The battle was fought at Ch'ang-chŏ; and on sighting the enemy our duke would have forthwith given orders to beat an attack, but Kuei said “Not yet!” Only when the enemy's drums had sounded thrice did Kuei shout out, “Now!”
Our victory was complete; and the duke would promptly have given orders to pursue, had not Kuei again said, “Not yet!” The latter then alighted and examined the tracks of the enemy's chariot-wheels; after which he got up on the hand-rail in front, and following the flying foe with his eye, cried out, “Now!” Thereupon the order was given to pursue.
When the battle had been gained, our duke asked Kuei for an explanation of his tactics. “A battle,” replied Kuei, “depends wholly upon the martial ardour of the combatants. At the first roll of the drum, that ardour is violently excited; with the second, it begins to flag; with the third, it is exhausted. Now, when the enemy's ardour was at this last stage, ours was at its highest pitch: therefore we conquered them. Still, against a formidable foe, one should be prepared for anything. I feared an ambuscade; but I found that their wheel-tracks were in evident disorder. I then looked at their standards, and saw that these also were in confusion. Therefore I gave the word to pursue.”[1]
BURNING A WIZARD.
[Twenty-first year of Duke Hsi:―In summer there was a great drought.―Annals.]
Thereupon the duke wished to burn a wizard; but his chief minister said to him, “That will avail nothing against the drought. Rather mend the city walls; diminish consumption; be economical; and devote every energy to gathering in the harvest. This is the
- ↑ My first acquaintance with the sacred books of China was through the medium of Dr. Legge's translations; and when I subsequently came to make free use of native commentaries, I could not but be impressed by the strict verbal accuracy of his renderings, especially in regard to the Tso Chuan. To this rule there are necessarily exceptions, of a more or less serious character; but their grand total would be wholly insufficient to cast a shadow upon that which is truly a monument more lasting than brass. Sir Thomas Wade, whose scholarship was of a vastly inferior order, characterized Legge's work as “wooden.” His own rendering of “The Lun Yü, being Utterances of Kung (sic!) Tzŭ,” is beneath contempt.
