《论衡·卷十·非韩篇》
马被杀，不如保全它的性命；像这样，老百姓被杀，不如让他活着。
马之贼，则不若其全；然则，民之死，不若其生。
Killing the horse is not as good as preserving its life; similarly, killing the people is not as good as letting them live.
<s>[INST] Break down the structure and provide an English interpretation of the presented Classical Chinese phrase: 马之贼，则不若其全；然则，民之死，不若其生。 [/INST]
 English interpretation: Killing the horse is not as good as preserving its life; similarly, killing the people is not as good as letting them live.
Structural analysis: The phrase is composed of two parallel clauses, each consisting of a subject-verb-object structure.  The first clause uses the horse (马) as the subject, the verb "to kill" (贼) as the verb, and "its entirety" (全) as the object.  The second clause uses the people (民) as the subject, the verb "to kill" (死) as the verb, and "their life" (生) as the object. The two clauses are connected by the conjunction "therefore" (然则), which indicates that the second clause is a logical consequence of the first.</s>
Break down the structure and provide an English interpretation of the presented Classical Chinese phrase: 马之贼，则不若其全；然则，民之死，不若其生。
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English interpretation: Killing the horse is not as good as preserving its life; similarly, killing the people is not as good as letting them live.
Structural analysis: The phrase is composed of two parallel clauses, each consisting of a subject-verb-object structure.  The first clause uses the horse (马) as the subject, the verb "to kill" (贼) as the verb, and "its entirety" (全) as the object.  The second clause uses the people (民) as the subject, the verb "to kill" (死) as the verb, and "their life" (生) as the object. The two clauses are connected by the conjunction "therefore" (然则), which indicates that the second clause is a logical consequence of the first.
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