On the day they are ordered out to battle, your soldiers may weep,
The word in the Chinese is 涕 “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,
皆持必死之計 “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 Yü alludes to the
mournful parting at the 易 I River between 荆軻 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: 風蕭蕭兮，易水寒，壯士一去兮，不復還 “The shrill blast
is blowing, Chilly the burn; Your champion is going—Not to
return.”[179]
But let them once be brought to bay, and they will display the courage
of a Chu or a Kuei.
諸 was the personal name of 專諸 Chuan Chu, a native of the Wu
State and contemporary with Sun Tzŭ himself, who was employed by
公子光 Kung-tzŭ Kuang, better known as Ho Lü Wang, to assassinate
his sovereign 王僚 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, 曹劌
Ts‘ao Kuei (or Ts‘ao 沫 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 桓公 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 that Lu was being unjustly
treated because she was a smaller and 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 colour. As
was to be expected, the Duke wanted afterwards to repudiate the
bargain, but his wise old counsellor 管仲 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. [For another anecdote of Ts‘ao Kuei see
VII. § 27, note; and for the biographies of these three bravos,
Ts‘ao, Chuan and Ching, see _Shih Chi_, ch. 86.]