26
He has permitted us to eat what will be most suitable for our lives, but he has forbidden us to eat meats that would be contrary to this.
27
It would be tyrannical for you to compel us not only to transgress the law, but also to eat in such a way that you may deride us for eating defiling foods, which are most hateful to us.
28
But you shall have no such occasion to laugh at me,
29
nor will I transgress the sacred oaths of my ancestors concerning the keeping of the law,
30
not even if you gouge out my eyes and burn my entrails.
31
I am not so old and cowardly as not to be young in reason on behalf of piety.
32
Therefore get your torture wheels ready and fan the fire more vehemently!
33
I do not so pity my old age as to break the ancestral law by my own act.
34
I will not play false to you, O law that trained me, nor will I renounce you, beloved self-control.
35
I will not put you to shame, philosophical reason, nor will I reject you, honored priesthood and knowledge of the law.
36
You, O king, shall not defile the honorable mouth of my old age, nor my long life lived lawfully.