《孙子兵法》“以卒待之”考辨

Textual Analysis of the Sentence “以卒待之” in The Art of War

《孙子兵法·势篇》"以卒待之"中的"卒",既不是历来所训释的"兵卒",也不是俞樾、郭在贻、许威汉等前贤时修所认为的"诈"的误用,而是表示突然、猝然。"卒"与"诈"都有突然、猝然之义,"卒"是通语,"诈"是齐语。古书中用"卒"表示突然的例子很多。"以卒待之"强调袭击敌人的突然性,是《孙子兵法》出奇、速胜思想的反映。

The word ＂卒＂in the sentence ＂以卒待之＂ in The Art of War doesn＇t mean ＂soldier＂.It isn＇t a misuse of the word ＂诈＂ as what some of the famous scholars such as YuYue,Guo Zaiyi and Xu Weihan said either.It means ＂abruptly＂ or ＂suddenly＂.The word ＂诈＂ also has the same meaning,but ＂卒＂is a word of lingua franca,and ＂诈＂ is a word of Qi dialect.There are a lot of examples of using the word ＂卒＂to express the meaning of＂suddenly＂ in the ancient books.The sentence ＂以卒待之＂ emphasizes the abruptness of ＂attacking the enemy＂,which reflects the idea of defeating the enemy suddenly and quickly in The Art of War.