TH}(.‘UU.<l;AND
Till’.IIOHSF
A
game
who
was
plucking
grass
upon
u
common
thought
her.\'el_faffronter!by
a
horsewho
fed
near
her;
mm’.in
hi.\'.s'ingll(‘L‘(Wll.\',
thusaddressedhim:“I
am
certainly
amore
nobleand
perfect
animalthan
yozrfor
tin’whole
range
and
extent
afyourfarcrtlties
is
confined
toone
element.
Icanwalk
upon
the
groom!
as
well(:5
you,’
Ihave,
basidtas,wings,
with
whichIcanraise
myself
intheair;and
whenI
please.
Ican
sport
on
pomls
and
lakes,
and
n7f*'.'Sh
myst,-ifin
1119 ‘ml
waters:
1
enfmirlle
dlffermzrpowersUfa
bird,
(1
fish,
am!a
qumiruped.
"
The
horse,
$tl(5!‘!§Izg
sonrrwhat
distltzinjizliy.
replied:
“I:ismic:
you
inhabit
three
eiemems.
but
you
makeno
very
disrirzguisiieri/ignre
in
any
one
ofthem.
You
fly,
imlerd;
but
your
flight
isso
heavy
and
clmnsy,
thatVonluau-‘e
no
right
to
putyourself
nnalevelwiththe[ark
ortheswallow.Youcan
swimonthe
surfaceof
the
watch»,
but
you
Ltmnoiliveinthemas
fishes
r1o:you
cannot
findyourfood
inrho!
riemenl,nor
gfirlr
.\'nzoor?:1
y
(aitmg
the
bottom
of
rite
waves.
Amiwhen
you
walk,
or
rather
wtlcltlle,upon
the
ground,
with
your
liroad
fret
and
your
long
neckxlretchred
out,
TRANSGRESSION
OFTHELAW
InChinainthe
early
sixth
century
B.C.,
the
kingdom
ofWu
began
awas
withthe
neighboring
norlhem
provinces
oftheMiddle
Kingdom.
Wuwas
a.
growing
power,
butitlackedthe
great
history
andcivilizationoftheMid
dle
Kingdom,
forcenturiesthecenterofChineseculture.
Bydefeating
the
Middle
Kingdom,
the
king
ofWuwould
instantly
raisehisstatus.
The
war
began
with
great
fanfare
andseveral
victories,
but
it
soon
bogged
down.A
victory
ononefromwouldleavetheWuarmiesvulnera~
bleonanother.The
king’
schiefministerand
adviser,
Wu
Tzu-hsiu,
warned
himthatthebarbarousstateof
Yueh,
tothe
south,
was
beginning
tonotice
the
kingdom
of
V\’u’s
problems
andhad
designs
toinvade.
The
kingonly
laughed
at
suchw0rries~onemore
bigvictory
andthe
great
Middle
King—
domwouldbehis.
Inthe
year
490,
WuT212-hsiusenthisson
away
to
safety
inthe
king-
domof
Ch’i.
In
doing
sohesentthe
king
a
signal
thathe
disapproved
of
the
war,
andthathe
believed
the
king’s
selfishambitionwas
leading
Wuto
min.The
king,sensingbetrayal,
lashedoutathis
minister,
accusing
himof
alackof
loyalty
and,
inafitof
anger,
orderedhimtokillhimself.WuTzu-
hsiu
obeyed
his
king,
butbeforehe
plunged
theknifeintohis
chest,
he
cried,
“Tearout
myeyes,
oh
King,
andfixthemonthe
gate
of
Wu,
sothatI
may
seethe
triumphantentry
ofYueh.”
AsWuTzwlrsiuhad
predicted,
withinafew
years
aYueh
armypassed
beneaththe
gate
ofWu.Asthebarbarianssurroundedthe
palace,
the
king
rememberedhisminister’slastWords-——~andfeltthedeadman’sdisembod-
ied
eyeswatching
his
disgrace.
Unabletohearhis
shame,
the
king
killed
himself,
“covering
hisfacesothathewould
nothave
to
meet
the
reproaclr
ful
gaze
ofhisministerinthenextworld.”
Interpretation
The
story
ofWuisa
paradigm
ofallthe
empires
thathavecometomin
by
overreachlng.
Drunkwithsuccess
andsick
with
ambition,
such
empires
ex‘
pand
to
grotesqueproportions
andmeetaminthatistotal.Thisiswhat
happened
toancient
Athens,
whichlustedforthe
faraway
islandof
Sicily
andended
uplosing
its
empire.
The
Romansstretchedthe
boundariesof
their
empire
to
encompass
vast
territories;
in
doing
so
they
increasedtheir
vulnerability,
andthechancesofinvasionfrom
yet
anotherbarbariantribe.
Theiruseless
expansion
ledtheir
empire
intooblivion.
Forthe
Chinese,
thefateofthe
kingdom
ofWuservesasanelemental
lessononwhat
happens
when
youdissipateyour
forcesonseveral
fronts,
losingsight
ofdistant
dangers
forthesakeof
presentgain.
“If
you
arenotin
danger,”says
Sun-tzu,
“donot
fight.”
It
isalmosta
physical
law:Whatis
bloated
beyond
its
proportions
inevitably
collapses.
Themindmustnot
wanderfrom
goal
to
goal,
orbedistracted
by
successfromitssenseof
pur-
pose
and
proportion.
Whatis
concentrated,coherent,
andconnectedtoits
past
has
power.
Whatis
dissipated,
divided,
anddistendedrotsand
fallsto
the
ground.
The
bigger
it
bloats,
the
harderitfalls.