The Text of Sun Tzǔ

I have found it difficult to glean much about the history of Sun Tzǔ’s text. The quotations that occur in early authors go to show that the “13 chapters” of which Ssǔ-ma Chʽien speaks were essentially the same as those now extant. We have his word for it that they were widely circulated in his day, and can only regret that he refrained from discussing them on that account. 80 Sun Hsing-yen says in his preface:⁠—