远形者，势均难以挑战，战而不利。

If you are situated at a great distance from the enemy, and the strength of the two armies is equal, it is not easy to provoke a battle, and fighting will be to your disadvantage.

凡此六者，地之道也，将之至任，不可不察也。

These six are the principles connected with Earth. The general who has attained a responsible post must be careful to study them.

凡兵有走者、有驰者、有陷者、有崩者、有乱者、有北者。凡此六者，非天地之灾，将之过也。

Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes, but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganization; (6) rout.

夫势均，以一击十，曰走；

Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times its size, the result will be the flight of the former.

卒强吏弱，曰驰；吏强卒弱，曰陷；

When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination. When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.

大吏怒而不服，遇敌怼而自战，将不知其能，曰崩；

When the higher officers are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander-in-chief can tell whether or no he is in a position to fight, the result is ruin.

将弱不严，教道不明，吏卒无常，陈兵纵横，曰乱；

When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixes duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.

将不能料敌，以少合众，以弱击强，兵无选锋，曰北。

When a general, unable to estimate the enemy's strength, allows an inferior force to engage a larger one, or hurls a weak detachment against a powerful one, and neglects to place picked soldiers in the front rank, the result must be rout.

凡此六者，败之道也，将之至任，不可不察也。

These are six ways of courting defeat, which must be carefully noted by the general who has attained a responsible post.

夫地形者，兵之助也。料敌制胜，计险隘远近，上将之道也。

The natural formation of the country is the soldier's best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances, constitutes the test of a great general

知此而用战者必胜，不知此而用战者必败。

He who knows these things, and in fighting puts his knowledge into practice, will win his battles. He who knows them not, nor practices them, will surely be defeated.