'What good will it do you to die of hunger ?' she asked, 'or to bury yourself alive'?
Or to surrender an uncondemned spirit before the fates demand it?
'Think you the ashes or sepultured dead can feel aught of thy woe! Would you recall the dead from the reluctant fates?
Why not shake off this womanish weakness and enjoy the blessings of light while you can?
The very corpse lying there ought to convince you that your duty is to live!' When pressed to eat or to live, no one listens unwillingly, and the lady, thirsty after an abstinence of several days, finally permitted her obstinacy to be overcome; nor did she take her fill of nourishment with less avidity than had the maid who had surrendered first.".