Thus the skilled

Critical Text

Yinqueshan Text--A

故善者。。。使敵之可勝故曰勝可智不可為

Yinqueshan Text--B

。。。能為不可勝。。。簨勝故。。。

Shiyijia zhu Text

故善戰者能為不 可勝不能使敵之可勝故曰勝可知而不可為

Translation

Thus the skilled can make themselves invincible. They cannot cause the enemy's vincibility. Thus it is said, "Victory can be known. It cannot be made."

Annotations

This is the first occurence of "Gu yue," "thus it is said," in the Yinqueshan text, where it appears a total of four times. (There is an additional occurence in the received text at the very end of chapter 3.) It掇 hard to know if the text is quoting a widely known saying, another text, or simply a phrase that is internal to its own lineage. On the one occasion when it clearly is the matter of another text, the Sunzi names that work--at least it does in chapter 7, where it quotes the Junzheng 軍政. If the phrase "Victory can be known" is one that originated within the lineage, the sense of gu yue is something like "thus as we say."