19. Seeing them, she was glad to think that she had at last got her proper food; but wanted to know beforehand, whether they were ignorant folks or had any knowledge of their souls, or whether their weariness under the burthen of their bodies, had exposed them to the dangers of the darksome night. 20. The lives of the unlearned (said she), are verily for their perdition in this world and the next; it is therefore meet to put an end to these, rather than leave them to live to their peril in both worlds. (The earlier the ignorant die, the sooner do they rid themselves of their miseries and responsibilities). 21. The life of the untutored is death, without spiritual knowledge, and physical death is preferable; in as much as it saves the dying soul from its accumulation of sin. (Living in the sinful world is sin, unless it is averted by spiritual knowledge). 22. It is the primeval law ordained by our prime father—the lotus-born Brahmá, that ignorant souls and those without knowledge of their selves, should become the food of the heinous. (_i.e._ Of voracious and envious animals, which devour the body and not the soul). 23. Therefore there is no harm in my feeding upon these two persons, who have offered themselves for my food; because it is silliness to let slip, a ready prize or proffered gift from the hand. (A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Or a self-given gift is not to be lost). 24. But lest they should prove to be men of parts and good and great souls, I cannot in that case feel disposed of my own nature, to put an end to their valuable lives. 25. I must therefore make a trial of them, and see if they are possessed of such parts; that I may decline from making my mess of them, because I feel averse to molest the intelligent. 26. For those that expect to have true glory and real happiness, with the length of their lives on earth; must always honour the learned with honorariums, adequate to their parts and desires. 27. I should rather suffer my body to perish with hunger, than destroy the intelligent for its supportance; because the soul derives more satisfaction from the counsels of the wise, than bare life without knowledge, can possibly afford. 28. The learned are to be supported even at the expense of one’s own life; because the society of the wise affords a physic to the soul (_psyches iatrion_), though death should deprive us of our bodies (for it ameliorates even the pangs of death). 29. Seeing me a man-eater Rákshasí, so favorably disposed to the preservation of the wise; what reasonable man is there, that must not make a breast-plate of the wise for himself. (_i.e._ The wise are ornaments to human beings however inhumane they may be to others of their fellow creatures. Hence the most cruel tyrants were the greatest supporters of learning).