Art of War 12.5
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Attack By Fire 火攻篇
凡火攻必因五火之變而應之
In attacking with fire, one should be prepared to meet five possible developments:
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
I take 五 as qualifying 變, not 火, and therefore think that Chang Yü is wrong in referring 五火 to the five methods of attack set forth in § 1. What follows has certainly nothing to do with these.
Character glossary
- 凡fánany, every, all; common, ordinary
- 火huǒfire, flame; to burn; anger, rage
- 攻gōngto accuse; to assault; to criticize
- 必bìsurely, certainly; must; will
- 因yīncause, reason; by; because
- 五wǔfive; surname
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 變biànto change, to transform, to alter; rebel
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 應yīngshould, must; to respond, to handle; to
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 12.1
- Art of War 12.12
- Zhuangzi The Tao of God
- Mencius 4A.1
- The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 17
- Zhuangzi Perfect Happiness
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.
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