Art of War 11.15
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Nine Situations 九地篇
所謂古之善用兵者能使敵人前後不相及衆寡不相恃貴賤不相救上下不相扶
Those who were called skilful leaders of old
knew how to drive a wedge between the enemy’s front and rear;
to prevent co-operation between his large and small divisions; to hinder the good troops from rescuing the bad,
the officers from rallying their men.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
所謂 is omitted in the T‘u Shu text.
More literally, “cause the front and rear to lose touch with each other.”
I doubt if 貴賤 can mean “officers and men,” as Capt. Calthrop translates. This is wanted for 上下.
The reading 扶, derived from the Yü Lan, must be considered very doubtful. The original text has 救, and the T‘u Shu 收.
Character glossary
- 所suǒplace, location; "that which", a particl
- 謂wèito call, to say, to tell; name, title; m
- 古gǔold, classic, ancient
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 善shàngood, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 用yòngto use, to employ, to apply; use
- 兵bīngsoldier; troops, an army; warlike
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 能néngcan, may; capable, full of energy
- 使shǐcause, mission, orders; envoy, messenger
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
- 人rénman, person; people
- 前qiánin front, forward; former, preceding
- 後hòuafter; behind, rear; descendants
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 相xiāngmutual, reciprocal; equal; each other
- 及jíto extend; to reach; and; in time
- 衆zhòngmultitude, crowd; the public
- 寡guǎwidowed; friendless, alone
- 恃shìto trust, to rely on; to presume
- 貴guìexpensive, costly; valuable, precious
- 賤jiàncheap, low, mean, worthless
- 救jiùaid, help; to rescue, to save
- 上shàngabove, on top, superior; to go up; to at
- 下xiàbelow, underneath; inferior; to bring do
- 扶fúto support, to protect, to help
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi The Great Supreme
- Art of War 6.3
- Art of War 3.17
- Art of War 4.3
- Zhuangzi The Empire
- Art of War 11.30
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.