Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity.
Instead of 作, the _T‘ung Tien_, _Yü Lan_, and also Li Ch‘üan’s
text have 候, which the latter explains as “the observation of
omens,” and Chia Lin simply as “watching and waiting.” 作 is
defined by Tu Mu as 激作, and Chang Yü tells us that by noting the
joy or anger shown by the enemy on being thus disturbed, we shall
be able to conclude whether his policy is to lie low or the
reverse. He instances the action of Chu-ko Liang, who sent the
scornful present of a woman’s head-dress to Ssŭ-ma I, in order to
goad him out of his Fabian tactics.
Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.
Two commentators, Li Ch‘üan and Chang Yü, take 形之 in the sense
of 示之 “put on specious appearances.” The former says: “You may
either deceive the enemy by a show of weakness—striking your
colours and silencing your drums; or by a show of strength—making
a hollow display of camp-fires and regimental banners.” And the
latter quotes V. 19, where 形之 certainly seems to bear this sense.
On the other hand, I would point to § 13 of this chapter, where 形
must with equal certainty be active. It is hard to choose between
the two interpretations, but the context here agrees better, I
think, with the one that I have adopted. Another difficulty arises
over 死生之地, which most of the commentators, thinking no doubt of
the 死地 in XI. § 1, refer to the actual _ground_ on which the
enemy is encamped. The notes of Chia Lin and Mei Yao-ch‘ên,
however, seem to favour my view. The same phrase has a somewhat
different meaning in I. § 2.