I. e.t everybody can see superficially how a battle is won; what they

cannot see is the long series of plans and combinations which has preceded the battle. It seems justifiable, then, to render the first J^ by "tactics" and the second by "strategy."
28. Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulate_dr^y the infinite variet of circumstances. ,
As Wang Hsi sagely remarks: "There is underlying victory, but the tactics (Jf£) which lead up to it are infinite in number." With this compare Col. Henderson; "The rules of strategy are few and simple. They may be learned in a week. They may be taught by familiar illustrations or a dozen diagrams. But such knowledge will no more teach a man to lead an army like Napoleon than a knowledge of grammar will teach him to write like Gibbon."
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* X 2JBJI ff IH S 1
31. ^ m *& m m m & m n. m
32. i&
33. is
29. Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards.
ff is ^j| jj: ^ Liu Chou-tzu's reading for ^ in the original text.
30. So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
Like water, taking the line of least resistance.
31. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows;
The Tung Tien and Yu Lan read ^j|J J& , — the latter also fljlj Jft . The present text is derived from Cheng Yu-hsien.
the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.
32. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.
33. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, rqay be called a heaven-born captain. JT
34. The five elements Water, fire, wood, metal, earth. are not always equally predominant;
That is, as Wang Hsi says: ffi; ;j"|J "^f -jj^ "they predominate alternately."
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the four seasons make ^ay for each other in turn. Literally, "have no invariabl, seat>>>
There are short days a^ long; the moon has its periods of waning and waxing.
Cf. V. § 6. The purport of the passage js simpiy to illustrate the want of fixity in war by the chang«s constantiy taking place in Nature. The comparison is not very happ.^ however, because the regularity of the phenomena which Sun Tzu mntions is by no means paralleled in war.
VII.