the great commentary. It was Wu Tzfi-hsii, he says,

who got all the credit of Sun VVu’s exploits, because the latter (being an alien) was not rewarded with an office in the State. 1

How then did the Sun Tzfi legend originate? It may be that the growing celebrity of the book imparted by degrees a kind of factitious renown to its author. It was

felt to be only right and proper that 0W in the science of should have solid achievements to

his credit as well. Now the capture of Ying was un- doubtedly the greatest feat of arms in Ho Lu’s reign; it made a deep and lasting impression on all the surrounding states, and raised Wu to the short-lived zenith of her power. Hence, what more natural, as time went on, than that the acknowledged master of strategy, Sun Wu, should be popularly identified with that campaign, at first perhaps only in the sense that his brain conceived and planned it; afterwards, that it was actually carried out by him in conjunction with \Nu Yuan, 2 Po P‘ei and Fu Kai?

It is obvious that any attempt to reconstruct even the outline of Sun th’i’s life must be based almost wholly on conjecture. With this necessary proviso, I should say that he probably entered the service of Wu about the time of Ho Lu’s accession, and gathered experience, though only in the capacity of a subordinate officer, during the intense military activity which marked the first half of that prince’s reign.3 If he rose to be a general at all, he certainly was never on an equal footing with the three