Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
- Now it's time to criticize the military and the use of force in general.
- According to the TTC, there's not much point in using soldiers to solve problems since eventually somebody else's soldiers are going to attack you in retaliation.
- We're told that thistles and thorns grow where armies camp—sounds like a metaphor for how military force is bad, right?
- Even though the TTC is saying that violence is a bad idea, it also gives advice on how a good military commander behaves.
- We could see this as showing that the TTC recognizes that sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
- Anyway, the TTC claims that a good commander achieves the necessary results and then stops.
- They don't overreach and dominate their enemy.
- They don't brag about their victories and they only fight when it's absolutely necessary.