Though according to my estimate the soldiers of Yüeh exceed our own in
number, that shall advantage them nothing in the matter of victory.
Capt. Calthrop omits 以吾度之, and his translation of the remainder
is flabby and inaccurate. As Sun Tzŭ was in the service of the 吳
Wu State, it has been proposed to read 吳 instead of 吾—a wholly
unnecessary tampering with the text. Yüeh coincided roughly with
the present province of Chehkiang. Li Ch‘üan very strangely takes
越 not as the proper name, but in the sense of 過 “to surpass.” No
other commentator follows him. 勝敗 belongs to the class of
expressions like 遠近 “distance,” 大小 “magnitude,” etc., to which
the Chinese have to resort in order to express abstract ideas of
degree. The _T‘u Shu_, however, omits 敗.