e, if they burn or fling away valuables, and
sacrifice their own lives, it is not that they dislike them, but
simply that they have no choice." Sun Tzu is slyly insinuating
that, as soldiers are but human, it is for the general to see
that temptations to shirk fighting and grow rich are not thrown
in their way.]

28. On the day they are ordered out to battle, your
soldiers may weep,

[The word in the Chinese is "snivel." This is taken to
indicate more genuine grief than tears alone.]

those sitting up bedewing their garments, and those lying down
letting the tears run down their cheeks.

[Not because they are afraid, but because, as Ts`ao Kung
says, "all have embraced the firm resolution to do or die." We
may remember that the heroes of the Iliad were equally childlike
in showing their emotion. Chang Yu alludes to the mournful
parting at the I River between Ching K`o and his friends, when
the former was sent to attempt the life of the King of Ch`in
(afterwards First Emperor) in 227 B.C. The tears of all flowed
down like rain as he bade them farewell and uttered the following
lines: "The shrill blast is blowing, Chilly the burn; Your
champion is going--Not to return." [1] ]

But let them once be brought to bay, and they will display the
courage of a Chu or a Kuei.

[Chu was the personal name of Chuan Chu, a native of the Wu
State and contemporary with Sun Tzu himself, who was employed by
Kung-tzu Kuang, better known as Ho Lu Wang, to assassinate his
sovereign Wang Liao with a dagger which he secreted in the belly
of a fish served up at a banquet. He succeeded in his attempt,
but was immediately hacked to pieced by the king's bodyguard.
This was in 515 B.C. The other hero referred to, Ts`ao Kuei (or
Ts`ao Mo), performed the exploit which has made his name famous
166 years earlier, in 681 B.C. Lu had been thrice defeated by
Ch`i, and was just about to conclude a treaty surrendering a
large slice of territory, when Ts`ao Kuei suddenly seized Huan
Kung, the Duke of Ch`i, as he stood on the altar steps and held a
dagger against his chest. None of the duke's retainers dared to
move a muscle, and Ts`ao Kuei proceeded to demand full
restitution, declaring the Lu was being unjustly treated because
she was a smaller and a weaker state. Huan Kung, in peril of his
life, was obliged to consent, whereupon Ts`ao Kuei flung away his
dagger and quietly resumed his place amid the