Exodus 1:18

And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?

Ver. 18. Why have ye done this thing?] They might well have answered, as she did in Euripides, Obediemus Atridis honesta mandantibus: Sin vero inhonesta mandabut, non obediemus. If you command things honest we will obey you; not else. Or as that brave woman upon the rack, Non ideo negare vole, ne peream: sed ideo mentiri nolo, ne peccem. a

a Jerome.