25
There they burned him with maliciously contrived instruments, threw him down, and poured stinking liquids into his nostrils.
26
When he was now burned to his very bones and about to expire, he lifted up his eyes to God and said,
27
"You know, O God, that though I might have saved myself, I am dying in burning torments for the sake of the law.
28
Be merciful to your people, and let our punishment suffice for them.
29
Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs."
30
After he said this, the holy man died nobly in his tortures; even in the tortures of death he resisted, by virtue of reason, for the sake of the law.
31
Admittedly, then, devout reason is sovereign over the emotions.
32
For if the emotions had prevailed over reason, we would have testified to their domination.
33
But now that reason has conquered the emotions, we properly attribute to it the power to govern.
34
It is right for us to acknowledge the dominance of reason when it masters even external agonies. It would be ridiculous to deny it.
35
I have proved not only that reason has mastered agonies, but also that it masters pleasures and in no respect yields to them.