- 諄諄翕翕徐言入入者失衆也
The T‘ung Tien reads 缶, which is much the same as 缻, and the Yü Lan 箠, which is manifestly wrong.
over the camp-fires, showing that they will not return to their tents,
For 返, the T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan both read 及.
you may know that they are determined to fight to the death.
For 窮宼, see VII. § 36. I may quote here the illustrative passage from the Hou Han Shu, ch. 71, given in abbreviated form by the ⟨P‘ei⟩ Wên Yün Fu: “The rebel 王國 Wang Kuo of 梁 Liang was ⟨besieging⟩ the town of 陳倉 Ch‘ên-ts‘ang, and 皇甫嵩 Huang-fu Sung, who ⟨was⟩ in supreme command, and 董卓 Tung Cho were sent out against ⟨him.⟩ The latter pressed for hasty measures, but Sung turned a deaf ear to ⟨his⟩ counsel. At last the rebels were utterly worn out, and began to ⟨throw⟩ down their weapons of their own accord. Sung was now for ⟨advancing⟩ to the attack, but Cho said: ‘It is a principle of war not to pursue ⟨desperate⟩ men and not to press a retreating host.’ Sung answered: ‘⟨that⟩ does not apply here. What I am about to attack is a jaded army, not ⟨a⟩ retreating host; with disciplined troops I am falling on a ⟨disorganised⟩ multitude, not a band of desperate men.’ Thereupon he advanced ⟨to⟩ the attack unsupported by his colleague, and routed the enemy, ⟨Wang⟩ Kuo being slain.” The inferior reading of the T‘u Shu for § 34 is ⟨as⟩ follows: 殺馬肉食者軍無糧也懸缻不返其舍者窮宼也. The first clause strikes me as rather shallow for Sun ⟨Tzŭ⟩ and it is hard to make anything of 懸缻 in the second without ⟨the⟩ negative. Capt. Calthrop, nothing daunted, set down in his first edition “When they cast away their cooking-pots.” He now has: “When ⟨the⟩ cooking-pots are hung up on the wall.”
35. The sight of men whispering together
諄諄 is well explained by Tu Mu as 乏氣聲促 “speaking ⟨with⟩ bated breath.”
in small knots
The Shuo Wên rather strangely defines 翕 by the word 起, but ⟨the⟩ Êrh Ya says 合 “to join” or “contract,” which is undoubtedly its ⟨primary⟩ meaning. Chang Yü is right, then, in explaining it here by ⟨the⟩ word 聚. The other commentators are very much at sea: Ts‘ao ⟨Kung⟩ says 失志貌, Tu Yu 不眞, Tu Mu 顚倒失次貌, Chia ⟨Lin⟩ 不安貌, Mei Yao-ch‘ên 曠職事, Wang Hsi 患其上.
