<p>之 = third person pronoun (it/him/her)</p>

<p>以 = with or indicating an indirect object</p>

<p>Verb 之以 Noun = VERB him with NOUN </p>

<p>In context, 淫之以色，啗之以利，养之以味，娱之以乐 means (a <em>very</em> rough translation) "(sexually) seduce him with sexy (women), lure him with benefit, accustom him with delicious food and amuse him with (obscene) music". It is included in a strategy saying that if you want to destroy your enemy nation, you need to first deceive (as in making him unable to make right decisions) the king then attack the military for the betterment of people. The sentence is detailing (figuratively) how you deceive the leader of enemy nation.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-19T15:18:13.783Z
perfect explanation
Abdul Al Hazred
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-19T08:00:27.233Z
2015-10-19T08:00:27.233Z
xngtng
<p>淫之以色，啗之以利，養之以味，娛之以樂 is a sentence from 六韜 (six secret teachings), a book about strategies. There are 4 lines each containing 4 characters and the same pattern: A 之以 B, wherein A and B are semantically related. </p>

<p>Could you give a translation and maybe an annotation on the grammatical structure? </p>

<translation><grammar><meaning><literary-chinese>
What is the translation for 淫之以色，啗之以利，養之以味，娛之以樂?
# What is the translation for 淫之以色，啗之以利，養之以味，娛之以樂?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-17)

淫之以色，啗之以利，養之以味，娛之以樂 is a sentence from 六韜 (six secret teachings), a book about strategies. There are 4 lines each containing 4 characters and the same pattern: A 之以 B, wherein A and B are semantically related.

Could you give a translation and maybe an annotation on the grammatical structure?

**Tags:** translation, grammar, meaning, literary-chinese


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-10-19. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

之 = third person pronoun (it/him/her)

以 = with or indicating an indirect object

Verb 之以 Noun = VERB him with NOUN

In context, 淫之以色，啗之以利，养之以味，娱之以乐 means (a *very* rough translation) "(sexually) seduce him with sexy (women), lure him with benefit, accustom him with delicious food and amuse him with (obscene) music". It is included in a strategy saying that if you want to destroy your enemy nation, you need to first deceive (as in making him unable to make right decisions) the king then attack the military for the betterment of people. The sentence is detailing (figuratively) how you deceive the leader of enemy nation.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: perfect explanation  

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