Art of War 9.37
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Army On The March 行軍篇
先暴而後畏其衆者不精之至也
To begin by bluster, but afterwards to take fright at the enemy’s numbers, shows a supreme lack of intelligence.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
I follow the interpretation of Ts‘ao Kung: 先輕敵後聞其衆則心惡之也, also adopted by Li Ch‘üan, Tu Mu and Chang Yü. Another possible meaning, set forth by Tu Yu, Chia Lin, Mei Yao-ch‘ên and Wang Hsi, is: “The general who is first tyrannical towards his men, and then in terror lest they should mutiny, etc.” This would connect the sentence with what went before about rewards and punishments. The T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan read 情 “affection” instead of 精.
Character glossary
- 先xiānfirst, former, previous
- 暴bàoviolent, brutal, tyrannical
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 後hòuafter; behind, rear; descendants
- 畏wèifear, dread, awe, reverence
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 衆zhòngmultitude, crowd; the public
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 精jīngessence, germ, spirit
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 至zhìreach, arrive; very, extremely
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi The Old Fisherman
- Art of War 11.54
- The Great Learning Passage 11
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 55
- Zhuangzi Tsê Yang
- Art of War 6.18
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.