ART of WAR

10

• Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to fight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength.

9

• Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.

8

• Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.

7

• If our troops are no more in number than the enemy, that is amply sufficient; it only means that no direct attack can be made. What we can do is simply to concentrate all our available strength, keeps a close watch on the enemy, and obtain reinforcements.

6

• In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure a victory.

5

• We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemies few.

4

• Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a sing, epicurean of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store.

3

• Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

2

• Hence it is only the enlightened ruler and the wide general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for purposes of spying and thereby they achieve great results. Spies are a most important element in water, because on them depends an army's ability to move.

1

• Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.