A Chinese Philosophy on Strategems The Art of War

By Doug Nash

Two men. Two veteran generals. Two different countries. Two diverse cultures. One goal

A Chinese Philosophy on Stratagems is relevant to both civilians and those in the military. Everyone holds a position where decisions made matter.

For those in the military, from buck private to NCO to the rank of general, this book is full of ideas and knowledge that is a must read. Wars are fought between nations, however, battles are won by individuals like you. In the heat of battle you will be fighting for only two reasons: those around you and to survive. Julius Frontinus and Sun Tzu knew this as both experienced battles. They wrote their books for you, even after two thousand years. Your decisions are important regardless of country, rank, gender, service arm, age or experience.

Military and intelligence institutions have referred to and examined the Art of War for over a century. Stratagems or Strategemata may not be as well-known or studied but it can play a vital role in understanding the works of Sun Tzu.
Strategy and tactics apply to the lives of civilians as much as those in the military. The strategies and tactics may not be as deliberate as those in the military but they still exist in everyday life and so have an impact.

Leadership, tactics, decisions making, assessing situations, to act or remain still, all are addressed by Sun Tzu and Julius Frontinus. What you do affects those around you as much as yourself, sometimes more so. The decisions civilians make may not lead to physical death, they can but not as often, civilians do suffer social and emotional deaths that can be avoided.
The examples of Julius Frontinus include Themistocles, Epaminondas, Cimon, Pericles the Athenian, Alcibiades, Agesilaus II, Xenophon of Athens, Pyrrhus, Hannibal Barca, Publius Cornelius Scipio, Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Julius Caesar. So much genius to learn from.

The examples of Frontinus tell us what happened and the philosophy of Sun Tzu reveals the true forces that the victorious commanders controlled to achieve the victory.

Ask yourself if you can afford to ignore the genius of two generals whose words have survived over two millennia? If not then A Chinese Philosophy on Stratagems is a must for your library.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SunTzuDo
• Release date: Dec 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463084199

Book preview

A CHINESE PHILOSOPHY ON STRATEGEMS

THE ART OF WAR

By Doug Nash

Copyright 2018 Doug Nash

Smashwords Edition

Text of Frontinus, The Stratagems, translated by Charles E. Bennett and edited by Mary B. McElwain, is reordered and reprinted from Volume 174 of the Loeb Classical Library published by Harvard University Press.

INTRODUCTION

SEXTUS JULIUS FRONTINUS

SUN TZU

LIONEL GILES

ART OF WAR CHAPTERS

LAYING PLANS

WAGING WAR

ATTACK BY STRATAGEM

TACTICAL DISPOSITIONS

ENERGY

WEAK POINTS AND STRONG

MANEUVERING

VARIATION IN TACTICS

THE ARMY ON THE MARCH

TERRAIN

THE NINE SITUATIONS

THE ATTACK BY FIRE

THE USE OF SPIES

THE COMMANDERS

INTRODUCTION

One of the greatest challenges with understanding the Art of War is to move the dry philosophical maxims into the realm of human action and behaviour. By using the Strategemata by Sextus Julius Frontinus, this challenge is eased considerably.

Frontinus created a collection of accounts illustrating actual general in actual battles where men and women lived and died. He was a general, governor and a consul. Based on life experience he is well qualified to judge what went into a war book like Stratagems: He wrote the book to inspire and guide the young emerging officers of the Roman army.

Sun Tzu was a Chinese general, military strategist, writer, and philosopher during the period in Chinese history referred to as the later Warring States period. The books original title is believe to be Bin-Fa, military matters. Lionel Giles used the ‘Art of War’ as the title for his published translation in 1910. Sun Tzu wrote more in a philosophical or forensic style that creates problems for most readers who know nothing about the times in which he lived.

Battles consist of the tangible and the intangible. That which can be seen and that which cannot be seen. It is the test of a great leader and commander to be able to understand what can’t be seen by what he can see. In essence we can say that Frontinus wrote about the tangible and Sun Tzu wrote about the intangible. Together they offer a breathtaking insight to winning battles, avoiding conflict, leadership, tactics and so much more.

Strategemata and the Art of War are perfect companion books. If you own one, you need to own the other to achieve the best understanding of both books. Frontinus tells you what happened. Sun Tzu gives you a chance to understand why the result came about.

Both books are extensive but not exhaustive. Not all maxims of both books are used as in some cases there is no direct correlation between specific Sun Tzu maxims and Frontinus examples. The examples that follow a maxim displays that maxim in a slightly or vastly different situation. They demonstrate the versatility of the maxims in the Art of War. This highlights the reasons the Art of War is so difficult to master. Applying the philosophies of Sun Tzu to open up many levels of the examples collected by Frontinus is most beneficial. The examples of Frontinus open up the maxims of Sun Tzu.

In the case of the Art of War, there are times that two maxims must be read as one to reap the most of the principle or point being made. So usually there will be just one AOW maxim and at other times there may be two or more. The opening two lines of the Art of War must be read as one to fully appreciate the message Sun Tzu was making.

The maxims and examples are listed in order of appearance in each book, not importance as pertaining to an example. The level of importance is for the reader to determine. In this there is no right or wrong, just the individuals understanding. The following paragraphs are nothing more than a doorway or trigger to a deeper or better understanding to both books.

The numerical references for the Art of War maxims are very simple. 3.11 refers to the chapter and then verse. The references to passages from the Strategemata, Stratagems: Book III II.6, refers to the book, chapter and verse. Again let me say that the maxims and verses are listed numerically and not in any order of importance. It is left to the reader to determine the importance of each and how the stories of from the Strategemata illustrate the maxims of from the Art of War.

While it is generally accepted that Stratagems: Book Four of the Strategemata was written by a different author then Julius Frontinus, examples are included as the whole purpose of the exercise is align maxims of the Art of War beside real life examples from the Strategemata to illuminate the reader. So the authorship is not a vital point in this regard only. Your understanding is everything.

At times it is also worthwhile to compare the chapter titles of each Stratagems: Book where the maxims and examples come from. It can be very rewarding.

While examples are used to demonstrate the essence and practicality of a Sun Tzu maxim, there will be examples that demonstrate the exact opposite of this meaning. Was victory won by the use of a specific maxim or was defeat suffered by the lack of use? If the maxim was employed by both sides, which side used it better? This is a deliberate effort to encourage the reader to consider all sides of the message the maxim is delivering. Other times a situation will be offered that most may not have thought appropriate. It may take time to understand the link between the maxim and the example, however there is and it is worth the time to discover this link. There are also passages that highlight the less then positive consequences of following a maxim in the Art of War.

One of the reasons the Art of War is so difficult to master is that there are so many angles, outcomes and situations to consider. This is the main reason why it is my belief the Art of War is a philosophy and not a manual.

So we are dealing with two war philosophies from two very different yet uncannily similar cultures from two thousand years ago. The lessons of these giants have stood the test of time.

Now it is the time for you to benefit from their efforts and yours.

THE TWO GENERALS

Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a prominent Roman General, Governor, Consul three times and civil engineer in the late 1st century AD.

Julius Frontinus saw both sides of war. As a General under the command of Quintus Petillius Cerialis in suppressing the Gallic revolt of Gaius Julius Civilis. He succeeded Cerialis as governor of Britain (73/74–77 AD). While governor he subdued the Silures, a tribe in southeast Wales;

In 97 AD, the new Emperor Nerva appointed him superintendent of the aqueducts (curator aquarum) in Rome.

Sun Tzu was a Chinese general, military strategist, writer and philosopher. His life is not recorded in detail as with Frontinus. Historians accept that he lived around 544–496 BC. The historian Sima Qian of the Han dynasty and other historians believe him a minister to King Helü of Wu during the later Warring States period.

A debate carries on as to whether the Art of War is a manual on war or a philosophy on warfare. This author leans more towards the thirteen chapters outlining a philosophy more than being a manual of warfare. When more chapters are found, the debate may be laid to rest on way or the other.

Each chapter explains one distinct aspect of warfare. For almost 1,500 years it was the lead text in an anthology that would be formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080.

The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare. The profound influence on both Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond cannot be underestimated.

Lionel Giles (1875 –1958) was a British sinologist, writer, and philosopher. He served as assistant curator at the British Museum and Keeper of the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books. Lionel Giles is most notable for his 1910 translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu and The Analects of Confucius.

This is the translation used for this book. Free copies are available for download online.

ART OF WAR Chapter: One Laying Plans

1.1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.

1.2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

An example of two proverbs must be read as one. As powerful as each is, the full message is not delivered unless both are read together.

Stratagems: Book III II.6. On Deceiving the Besieged.

Alcibiades, the Athenian commander, while besieging the strongly fortified city of the Agrigentines, requested a conference of the citizens, and, as though discussing matters of common concern, addressed them at length in the theatre, where according to the custom of the Greeks it was usual to afford a place for consultation. Then, while he held the crowd on the pretence of deliberation, the Athenians, whom he had previously prepared for this move, captured the city, thus left unguarded.

Stratagems: Book III IV.3. By What Means the Enemy may be reduced to Want.

Dionysius, having captured many cities and wishing to attack the Rhegians, who were well provided with supplies, pretended to desire peace, and begged of them to furnish provisions for his army. When he had secured his request and had consumed the grain of the inhabitants, he attacked their town, now stripped of food, and conquered it.

Stratagems: Book IV III.13. On Restraint and Disinterestedness.

The restraint of an entire army was also often noteworthy, as for example of the troops which served under Marcus Scaurus. For Scaurus has left it on record that a tree laden with fruit, at the far end of the fortified enclosure of the camp, was found, the day after the withdrawal of the army, with the fruit undisturbed.

Stratagems: Book IV V.20. On Determination (The Will to Victory)

The story goes that the inhabitants of Casilinum, when blockaded by Hannibal, suffered such shortage of food that a mouse was sold for two hundred denarii, and that the man who sold it died of starvation, while the purchaser lived. Yet the inhabitants persisted in maintaining their loyalty to the Romans.

Stratagems: Book IV VII.22. On Sundry Maxims and Devices.

When Gaius Pinarius was in charge of the garrison of Henna in Sicily, the magistrates of the city demanded the keys of the gates, which he had in his keeping. Suspecting that they were preparing to go over to the Carthaginians, he asked for the space of a single night to consider the matter; and, revealing to his soldiers the treachery of the Greeks, he instructed them to get ready and wait for his signal on the morrow.

At daybreak, in the presence of his troops, he announced to the people of Henna that he would surrender the keys, if all the inhabitants of the town should be agreed in their view. When the entire populace assembled in the theatre to settle this matter, and, with the obvious purpose of revolting, made the same demand, Pinarius gave the signal to his soldiers and murdered all the people of Henna.

ART OF WAR Chapter: One Laying Plans

1.5, 6. The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

Stratagems: Book IV VI.2. On Good Will and Moderation.

When Xenophon on one occasion happened to be on horseback and had just ordered the infantry to take possession of a certain eminence, he heard one of the soldiers muttering that it was an easy matter for a mounted man to order such difficult enterprises.

At this Xenophon leaped down and set the man from the ranks on his horse, while he himself hurried on foot with all speed to the eminence he had indicated. The soldier, unable to endure the shame of this performance, voluntarily dismounted amid the jeers of his comrades.

It was with difficulty, however, that the united efforts of the troops induced Xenophon to mount his horse and to restrict his energies to the duties which devolved upon a commander.

ART OF WAR Chapter: One Laying Plans

1.7. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.

Stratagems: Book II V.23. On Ambushes.

When the same Hannibal was encamped in the depths of winter at the Trebia, with the camp of the consul, Sempronius Longus, in plain view and only the river flowing between, he placed Mago and picked men in ambush. Then he commanded Numidian cavalry to advance up to Sempronius's fortifications, in order to lure forth the simple-minded Roman. At the same time, he ordered these troops to retire by familiar fords at our first onset.

By heedlessly attacking and pursuing the Numidians, the consul gave his troops a chill, as a result of fording the stream in the bitter cold and without breakfast. Then, when our men were suffering from numbness and hunger, Hannibal led against them his own troops, whom he had got in condition for that purpose by warm fires, food, and rubbing down with oil.