Art of War 13.23
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Use Of Spies 用間篇
因是而知之故死間爲誑事可使告敵
It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
“Because the converted spy knows how the enemy can best be deceived” (Chang Yü). The T‘ung Tien text, followed by the Yü Lan, has here the obviously interpolated sentence 因是可得而攻也.
Character glossary
- 因yīncause, reason; by; because
- 是shìto be; indeed, right, yes; okay
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 知zhīto know, to perceive, to comprehend
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 間jiānbetween, among; midpoint; space, place,
- 爲wèido, handle, govern, act; be
- 誑kuángto lie, to deceive; to delude, to cheat
- 事shìaffair, matter, business; to serve; acci
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 使shǐcause, mission, orders; envoy, messenger
- 告gàoto tell, to inform, to announce; to accu
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 13.12
- Mencius 1A.7
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Zhuangzi Joined Toes
- Zhuangzi The Identity of Contraries
- Art of War 13.7
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.