The Commentators
----------------


Sun Tzu can boast an exceptionally long distinguished roll
of commentators, which would do honor to any classic. Ou-yang
Hsiu remarks on this fact, though he wrote before the tale was
complete, and rather ingeniously explains it by saying that the
artifices of war, being inexhaustible, must therefore be
susceptible of treatment in a great variety of ways.

1. TS`AO TS`AO or Ts`ao Kung, afterwards known as Wei Wu Ti
[A.D. 155-220]. There is hardly any room for doubt that the
earliest commentary on Sun Tzu actually came from the pen of this
extraordinary man, whose biography in the SAN KUO CHIH reads like
a romance. One of the greatest military geniuses that the world
has seen, and Napoleonic in the scale of his operations, he was
especially famed for the marvelous rapidity of his marches, which
has found expression in the line "Talk of Ts`ao Ts`ao, and Ts`ao
Ts`ao will appear." Ou-yang Hsiu says of him that he was a great
captain who "measured his strength against Tung Cho, Lu Pu and
the two Yuan, father and son, and vanquished them all; whereupon
he divided the Empire of Han with Wu and Shu, and made himself
king. It is recorded that whenever a council of war was held by
Wei on the eve of a far-reaching campaign, he had all his
calculations ready; those generals who made use of them did not
lose one battle in ten; those who ran counter to them in any
particular saw their armies incontinently beaten and put to
flight." Ts`ao Kung's notes on Sun Tzu, models of austere
brevity, are so thoroughly characteristic of the stern commander
known to history, that it is hard indeed to conceive of them as
the work of a mere LITTERATEUR. Sometimes, indeed, owing to
extreme compression, they are scarcely intelligible and stand no
less in need of a commentary than the text itself. [40]

2. MENG SHIH. The commentary which has come down to us
under this name is comparatively meager, and nothing about the
author is known. Even his personal name has not been recorded.
Chi T`ien-pao's edition places him after Chia Lin,and Ch`ao Kung-
wu also assigns him to the T`ang dynasty, [41] but this is a
mistake. In Sun Hsing-yen's preface, he appears as Meng Shih of
the Liang dynasty [502-557]. Others would identify him with Meng
K`ang of the 3rd century. He is named in one work as the last of
the "Five Commentators," the others being Wei Wu Ti, Tu Mu, Ch`en
Hao and Chia Lin.

3. LI CH`UAN of the 8th century was a well-known writer on
military tactics. One of his works has been in constant use down
to the present day. The T`UNG CHIH mentions "Lives of famous
generals from the Chou to the T`ang dynasty" as written by him.
[42] According to Ch`ao Kung-wu and the T`IEN-I-KO catalogue, he
followed a variant of the text of Sun Tzu which differs
considerably from those now extant. His notes are mostly short
and to the point, and he frequently illustrates his remarks by
anecdotes from Chinese history.

4. TU YU (died 812) did not publish a separate commentary
on Sun Tzu, his notes being taken from the T`UNG TIEN, the
encyclopedic treatise on the Constitution which was his life-
work. They are largely repetitions of Ts`ao Kung and Meng Shih,
besides which it is believed that he drew on the ancient
commentaries of Wang Ling and others. Owing to the peculiar
arrangement of T`UNG TIEN, he has to explain each passage on its
merits, apart from the context, and sometimes his own explanation
does not agree with that of Ts`ao Kung, whom he always quotes
first. Though not strictly to be reckoned as one of the "Ten
Commentators," he was added to their number by Chi T`ien-pao,
being wrongly placed after his grandson Tu Mu.

5. TU MU (803-852) is perhaps the best known as a poet -- a
bright star even in the glorious galaxy of the T`ang period. We
learn from Ch`ao Kung-wu that although he had no practical
experience of war, he was extremely fond of discussing the
subject, and was moreover well read in the military history of
the CH`UN CH`IU and CHAN KUO eras. His notes, therefore, are
well worth attention. They are very copious, and replete with
historical parallels. The gist of Sun Tzu's work is thus
summarized by him: "Practice benevolence and justice, but on the
other hand make full use of artifice and measures of expediency."
He further declared that all the military triumphs and disasters
of the thousand years which had elapsed since Sun Tzu's death
would, upon examination, be found to uphold and corroborate, in
every particular, the maxims contained in his book. Tu Mu's
somewhat spiteful charge against Ts`ao Kung has already been
considered elsewhere.

6. CH`EN HAO appears to have been a contemporary of Tu Mu.
Ch`ao Kung-wu says that he was impelled to write a new commentary
on Sun Tzu because Ts`ao Kung's on the one hand was too obscure
and subtle, and that of Tu Mu on the other too long-winded and
diffuse. Ou-yang Hsiu, writing in the middle of the 11th
century, calls Ts`ao Kung, Tu Mu and Ch`en Hao the three chief
commentators on Sun Tzu, and observes that Ch`en Hao is
continually attacking Tu Mu's shortcomings. His commentary,
though not lacking in merit, must rank below those of his
predecessors.

7. CHIA LIN is known to have lived under the T`ang dynasty,
for his commentary on Sun Tzu is mentioned in the T`ang Shu and
was afterwards republished by Chi Hsieh of the same dynasty
together with those of Meng Shih and Tu Yu. It is of somewhat
scanty texture, and in point of quality, too, perhaps the least
valuable of the eleven.

8. MEI YAO-CH`EN (1002-1060), commonly known by his "style"
as Mei Sheng-yu, was, like Tu Mu, a poet of distinction. His
commentary was published with a laudatory preface by the great
Ou-yang Hsiu, from which we may cull the following: --

Later scholars have misread Sun Tzu, distorting his
words and trying to make them square with their own one-sided
views. Thus, though commentators have not been lacking, only
a few have proved equal to the task. My friend Sheng-yu has
not fallen into this mistake. In attempting to provide a
critical commentary for Sun Tzu's work, he does not lose
sight of the fact that these sayings were intended for states
engaged in internecine warfare; that the author is not
concerned with the military conditions prevailing under the
sovereigns of the three ancient dynasties, [43] nor with the
nine punitive measures prescribed to the Minister of War.
[44] Again, Sun Wu loved brevity of diction, but his meaning
is always deep. Whether the subject be marching an army, or
handling soldiers, or estimating the enemy, or controlling
the forces of victory, it is always systematically treated;
the sayings are bound together in strict logical sequence,
though this has been obscured by commentators who have
probably failed to grasp their meaning. In his own
commentary, Mei Sheng-yu has brushed aside all the obstinate
prejudices of these critics, and has tried to bring out the
true meaning of Sun Tzu himself. In this way, the clouds of
confusion have been dispersed and the sayings made clear. I
am convinced that the present work deserves to be handed down
side by side with the three great commentaries; and for a
great deal that they find in the sayings, coming generations
will have constant reason to thank my friend Sheng-yu.

Making some allowance for the exuberance of friendship, I am
inclined to endorse this favorable judgment, and would certainly
place him above Ch`en Hao in order of merit.

9. WANG HSI, also of the Sung dynasty, is decidedly
original in some of his interpretations, but much less judicious
than Mei Yao-ch`en, and on the whole not a very trustworthy
guide. He is fond of comparing his own commentary with that of
Ts`ao Kung, but the comparison is not often flattering to him.
We learn from Ch`ao Kung-wu that Wang Hsi revised the ancient
text of Sun Tzu, filling up lacunae and correcting mistakes. [45]

10. HO YEN-HSI of the Sung dynasty. The personal name of
this commentator is given as above by Cheng Ch`iao in the TUNG
CHIH, written about the middle of the twelfth century, but he
appears simply as Ho Shih in the YU HAI, and Ma Tuan-lin quotes
Ch`ao Kung-wu as saying that his personal name is unknown. There
seems to be no reason to doubt Cheng Ch`iao's statement,
otherwise I should have been inclined to hazard a guess and
identify him with one Ho Ch`u-fei, the author of a short treatise
on war, who lived in the latter part of the 11th century. Ho
Shih's commentary, in the words of the T`IEN-I-KO catalogue,
"contains helpful additions" here and there, but is chiefly
remarkable for the copious extracts taken, in adapted form, from
the dynastic histories and other sources.

11. CHANG YU. The list closes with a commentator of no
great originality perhaps, but gifted with admirable powers of
lucid exposition. His commentator is based on that of Ts`ao
Kung, whose terse sentences he contrives to expand and develop in
masterly fashion. Without Chang Yu, it is safe to say that much
of Ts`ao Kung's commentary would have remained cloaked in its
pristine obscurity and therefore valueless. His work is not
mentioned in the Sung history, the T`UNG K`AO, or the YU HAI, but
it finds a niche in the T`UNG CHIH, which also names him as the
author of the "Lives of Famous Generals." [46]
It is rather remarkable that the last-named four should all
have flourished within so short a space of time. Ch`ao Kung-wu
accounts for it by saying: "During the early years of the Sung
dynasty the Empire enjoyed a long spell of peace, and men ceased
to practice the art of war. but when [Chao] Yuan-hao's rebellion
came [1038-42] and the frontier generals were defeated time after
time, the Court made strenuous inquiry for men skilled in war,
and military topics became the vogue amongst all the high
officials. Hence it is that the commentators of Sun Tzu in our
dynasty belong mainly to that period. [47]

Besides these eleven commentators, there are several others
whose work has not come down to us. The SUI SHU mentions four,
namely Wang Ling (often quoted by Tu Yu as Wang Tzu); Chang Tzu-
shang; Chia Hsu of Wei; [48] and Shen Yu of Wu. The T`ANG SHU
adds Sun Hao, and the T`UNG CHIH Hsiao Chi, while the T`U SHU
mentions a Ming commentator, Huang Jun-yu. It is possible that
some of these may have been merely collectors and editors of
other commentaries, like Chi T`ien-pao and Chi Hsieh, mentioned
above.