[The word in the Chinese is "snivel." This is taken to indicate more
genuine grief than tears alone.]
those sitting up bedewing their garments, and those lying down letting
the tears run down their cheeks.
[Not because they are afraid, but because, as Ts’ao Kung says, "all
have embraced the firm resolution to do or die." We may remember that
the heroes of the Iliad were equally childlike in showing their
emotion. Chang Yu alludes to the mournful parting at the I River
between Ching K’o and his friends, when the former was sent to attempt
the life of the King of Ch’in (afterwards First Emperor) in 227 B.C.
The tears of all flowed down like rain as he bade them farewell and
uttered the following lines: "The shrill blast is blowing, Chilly the
burn; Your champion is going—Not to return." [1] ]
But let them once be brought to bay, and they will display the courage
of a Chu or a Kuei.
[Chu was the personal name of Chuan Chu, a native of the Wu State and
contemporary with Sun Tzŭ himself, who was employed by Kung-tzu Kuang,
better known as Ho Lu Wang, to assassinate his sovereign Wang Liao with
a dagger which he secreted in the belly of a fish served up at a
banquet. He succeeded in his attempt, but was immediately hacked to
pieces by the king’s bodyguard. This was in 515 B.C. The other hero
referred to, Ts’ao Kuei (or Ts’ao Mo), performed the exploit which has
made his name famous 166 years earlier, in 681 B.C. Lu had been thrice
defeated by Ch’i, and was just about to conclude a treaty surrendering
a large slice of territory, when Ts’ao Kuei suddenly seized Huan Kung,
the Duke of Ch’i, as he stood on the altar steps and held a dagger
against his chest. None of the duke’s retainers dared to move a muscle,
and Ts’ao Kuei proceeded to demand full restitution, declaring the Lu
was being unjustly treated because she was a smaller and a weaker
state. Huan Kung, in peril of his life, was obliged to consent,
whereupon Ts’ao Kuei flung away his dagger and quietly resumed his
place amid the terrified assemblage without having so much as changed
color. As was to be expected, the Duke wanted afterwards to repudiate
the bargain, but his wise old counselor Kuan Chung pointed out to him
the impolicy of breaking his word, and the upshot was that this bold
stroke regained for Lu the whole of what she had lost in three pitched
battles.]