Art of War 13.8
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Use Of Spies 用間篇
五間俱起莫知其道是謂神紀人君之寳也
When these five kinds of spy are all at work, none can discover the secret system. This is called “divine manipulation of the threads.” It is the sovereign’s most precious faculty.
This is called
“divine manipulation of the threads.”
It is the sovereign’s most precious faculty.
Lionel Giles's notes
道 is explained by Tu Mu as 其情泄形露之道 “the way in which facts leak out and dispositions are revealed.”
爲 is the reading of the standard text, but the T‘ung Tien, Yü Lan and T‘u Shu all have 謂.
Capt. Calthrop translates 神紀 “the Mysterious Thread,” but Mei Yao-ch‘ên’s paraphrase 神妙之綱紀 shows that what is meant is the control of a number of threads.
“Cromwell, one of the greatest and most practical of all cavalry leaders, had officers styled ‘scout masters,’ whose business it was to collect all possible information regarding the enemy, through scouts and spies, etc., and much of his success in war was traceable to the previous knowledge of the enemy’s moves thus gained.”
Character glossary
- 五wǔfive; surname
- 間jiānbetween, among; midpoint; space, place,
- 俱jùall, together; accompany
- 起qǐto begin, to initiate; to rise, to stand
- 莫mòcannot; do not; is not; negative
- 知zhīto know, to perceive, to comprehend
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 是shìto be; indeed, right, yes; okay
- 謂wèito call, to say, to tell; name, title; m
- 神shéngod, spirit; divine, mysterious, superna
- 紀jìdiscipline, age; period, era; record, an
- 人rénman, person; people
- 君jūnsovereign, ruler, prince, monarch, chief
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 寳bǎotreasure, jewel; precious, rare
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 10.24
- Zhuangzi Knowledge travels North
- Mencius 7B.25
- Art of War 13.25
- Zhuangzi Language
- Zhuangzi The Tao of God
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.