'Moreover, I tell you this:
27. 'Who may in earnest believe that you do not love her, or that you will not get into harm, as soon as you have abandoned her?'
Abhipâraga said:
28. 'I am your slave, I with my wife and children. You are my master and my deity. What infringement of Law, Your Majesty, can there be, then, if you act as pleases you with respect to this your female slave?
'As to your asserting that I love her, what matters it?
29. 'Yea, my liege, she is my beloved wife, and it is for this very reason that I desire her to be given to you. He who has given in this world something dear to him, receives in the next dear objects of exceeding loveliness.
'Therefore, Your Majesty may take her.'
The king spoke: 'Oh, do not say so! It is impossible for me to do so. Why?
30. 'I should dare throw myself on a sharp sword or into a fire with blazing flames, but I shall not be able to offend against Righteousness, which I have always observed, and to which I owe my royal bliss.'