Pagina 45 de 266

However, it points to the third term as being a calculation of

numbers.]

19. A victorious army opposed to a routed one, is as a pound's

weight placed in the scale against a single grain.

[Literally, "a victorious army is like an i (20 oz.) weighed

against a shu (1/24 oz.); a routed army is a shu weighed against

an i." The point is simply the enormous advantage which a

disciplined force, flushed with victory, has over one demoralized

by defeat. Legge, in his note on Mencius, I. 2. ix. 2, makes the

i to be 24 Chinese ounces, and corrects Chu Hsi's statement that

it equaled 20 oz. only. But Li Ch'uan of the T'ang dynasty here

gives the same figure as Chu Hsi.]

20. The onrush of a conquering force is like the bursting of

pent-up waters into a chasm a thousand fathoms deep. So much for

tactical dispositions.

Chapter V. ENERGY

1. Sun Tzŭ said: The control of a large force is the same

principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of

dividing up their numbers.