Art of War 11.29
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Nine Situations 九地篇
故善用兵譬如率然率然者常山之虵也擊其首則尾至擊其尾則首至擊其中則首尾俱至
The skilful tactician may be likened to the shuai-jan . Now the shuai-jan is a snake that is found in the Ch‘ang mountains.
Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle,
and you will be attacked by head and tail both.
Lionel Giles's notes
率然 means “suddenly” or “rapidly,” and the snake in question was doubtless so called owing to the rapidity of its movements. Through this passage, the term has now come to be used in the sense of “military manœuvres.” The 常山 have apparently not been identified.
Another reading in the Yü Lan for 中 is 腹 “belly.”
Character glossary
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 善shàngood, virtuous, charitable, kind
- 用yòngto use, to employ, to apply; use
- 兵bīngsoldier; troops, an army; warlike
- 譬pìexample; metaphor, simile
- 如rúas, as if, like, such as, supposing
- 率lǜto command, to lead; rate, ratio, propor
- 然ráncertainly; naturally; suddenly
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 常chángcommon, general, normal; always, frequen
- 山shānmountain, hill, peak
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 虵shé
- 也yěalso, too
- 擊jīto strike, to hit, to beat; to attack, t
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 首shǒuchief, head, leader
- 則zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 尾wěitail; extremity, end; back, rear
- 至zhìreach, arrive; very, extremely
- 中zhōngcentral; center, middle; amidst; to hit
- 俱jùall, together; accompany
Passages with shared wording
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.