Art of War 12.13

The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Attack By Fire 火攻篇

故以火佐攻者明以水佐攻者强

Hence those who use fire as an aid to the attack show intelligence;

those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an accession of strength.

Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.

Lionel Giles's notes

I have not the least hesitation in rejecting the commentators’ explanation of 明 as = 明白. Thus Chang Yü says: 灼然可以取勝 “... will clearly [i.e. obviously] be able to gain the victory.” This is not only clumsy in itself, but does not balance 强 in the next clause. For 明 “intelligent,” cf. infra, § 16, and Lun Yü XII. 6.

Capt. Calthrop gives an extraordinary rendering of the paragraph: “... if the attack is to be assisted, the fire must be unquenchable. If water is to assist the attack, the flood must be overwhelming.”

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Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.