and where it is deficient.

25. In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch

you can attain is to conceal them; conceal your dispositions,

and you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies,

from the machinations of the wisest brains.

26. How victory may be produced for them out of the enemy's

own tactics- that is what the multitude cannot comprehend.

27. All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer,

but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory

is evolved.

28. Do not repeat the tactics which have gained

you one victory, but let your methods be regulated

by the infinite variety of circumstances.

29. Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its

natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards.

30. So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong

and to strike at what is weak.

31. Water shapes its course according to the nature

of the ground over which it flows; 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, may be called

a heaven-born captain.

34. The five elements (water, fire, wood, metal, earth)

are not always equally predominant; the four seasons make

way for each other in turn. There are short days and long;

the moon has its periods of waning and waxing.

VII. Maneuvering

1. Sun Tzu said: In war, the general receives his

commands from the sovereign.

2. Having collected an army and concentrated his forces,

he must blend and harmonize the different elements thereof

before pitching his camp.

3. After that, comes tactical maneuvering,

than which there is nothing more difficult.

The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists

in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.

4. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route,

after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting

after him, to contrive to reach the goal before him,

shows knowledge of the artifice of DEVIATION.

5. Maneuvering with an army is advantageous;

with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.

6. If you set a fully equipped army in march in order

to snatch an advantage, the chances are that you will be

too late. On the other hand, to detach a flying column

for the purpose involves the sacrifice of its baggage

and stores.

7. Thus, if you order your men to roll up their

buff-coats, and make forced marches without halting day

or night, covering double the usual distance at a stretch,

doing a hundred LI in order to wrest an advantage,

the leaders of all your three divisions will fall into

the hands of the enemy.

8. The stronger men will be in front, the jaded

ones will fall behind, and on this plan only one-tenth

of your army will reach its destination.

9. If you march fifty LI in order to outmaneuver

the enemy, you will lose the leader of your first division,

and only half your force will reach the goal.

10. If you march thirty LI with the same object,

two-thirds of your army will arrive.

11. We may take it then that an army without its

baggage-train is lost; without provisions it is lost;

without bases of supply it is lost.

12. We cannot enter into alliances until we are

acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.

13. We are not fit to lead an army on the march

unless we are familiar with the face of the country- its

mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices,

its marshes and swamps.

14. We shall be unable to turn natural advantage

to account unless we make use of local guides.

15. In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed.

16. Whether to concentrate or to divide your troops,

must be decided by circumstances.

17. Let your rapidity be that of the wind,

your compactness that of the forest.

18. In raiding and plundering be like fire,

is immovability like a mountain.

19. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night,

and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

20. When you plunder a countryside, let the spoil be

divided amongst your men; when you capture new territory,