THIS book
is like a fearful peal of thunder echoing out of the dim horrors of ancient
tyranny. It is a chapter based on persecution by Antiochus, the tyrant of Syria,
whom some called Epiphanes, The Madman. Roman history of the first centuries records
two such tyrants—the other, Caligula, the Second Brilliant Madman.
The
form of this writing is that of an oration. So carefully timed are the risings
and fallings of the speech; so devastating are its arguments; so unfaltering is
its logic; so deep its thrusts; so cool its reasoning—that it takes its place
as a sample of the sheerest eloquence.
The
keynote is—Courage. The writer begins with an impassioned statement of the Philosophy
of Inspired Reason. We like to think of this twentieth Century as the Age of Reason
and contrast it with the Age of Myths—yet a writing such as this is a challenge
to such an assumption. We find a writer who probably belonged to the first
century before the Christian Era stating a clear-cut philosophy of Reason that
is just as potent today as it was two thousand years ago.
The
setting of the observations in the torture chambers is unrelenting. On our modern
ears attuned to gentler things it strikes appallingly. The detail's of the
successive tortures (suggesting the instruments of the Spanish Inquisition centuries
later) are elaborated in a way shocking to our taste. Even the emergence of the
stoical characters of the Old man, the Seven Brothers, and the Mother, does
nothing to soften the ferocity with which this orator conjures Courage.
The
ancient Fathers of the Christian Church carefully preserved this book (we have
it from a Syrian translation) as a work of high moral value and teaching, and
it was undoubtedly familiar to many of the early Christian martyrs, who were
aroused to the pitch of martyrdom by reading it.
CHAP. I.
An outline of philosophy from ancient times concerning Inspired Reason.
Civilization has never achieved higher thought. A discussion of "Repressions."
Verse 48 sums up the whole Philosophy of mankind.
PHILOSOPHICAL in the highest degree
is the question I propose to discuss, namely whether the Inspired Reason is
supreme ruler over the passions; and to the philosophy of it I would seriously
entreat your earnest attention.
2 For not only is the subject generally
necessary as a branch of knowledge, but it includes the praise of the greatest
of virtues, whereby I mean self-control.
3 That is to say, if Reason is
proved to control the passions adverse to temperance, gluttony and lust, it is
also clearly shown to be lord over the passions, like malevolence, opposed to
justice, and over those opposed to manliness, namely rage and pain and fear.
4 But, some may ask, if the Reason
is master of the passions, why does it not control forgetfulness and ignorance?
their object being to cast ridicule.
5 The answer is that Reason is not
master over defects inhering in the mind itself, but over the passions or moral
defects that are adverse to justice and manliness and temperance and judgement;
and its action in their case is not to extirpate the passions, but to enable us
to resist them successfully.
6 I could bring before you many examples,
drawn from various sources, where Reason has proved itself master over the
passions, but the best instance by far that I can give is the noble conduct of
those who died for the sake of virtue, Eleazar, and the Seven Brethren and the
Mother.
7 For these all by their contempt of
pains, yea, even unto death, proved that Reason rises superior to the passions.
8 I might enlarge here in praise of
their virtues, they, the men with the Mother, dying on this day we celebrate
for the love of moral beauty and goodness, but rather would I felicitate them
on the honours they have attained.
9 For the admiration felt for their
courage and endurance, not only by the world at large but by their very
executioners, made them the authors of the downfall of the tyranny under which
our nation lay, they defeating the tyrant by their endurance, so that through
them was their country purified.
10 But I shall presently take opportunity
to discuss this, after we have begun with the general theory, as I am in the
habit of doing, and I will then proceed to their story, giving glory to the
all-wise God.
11 Our enquiry, then, is whether the Reason
is supreme master over the passions.
12 But we must define just what the
Reason is and what passion is, and how many forms of passion there are, and
whether the Reason is supreme over all of them.
13 Reason I take to be the mind preferring
with clear deliberation the life of wisdom.
14 Wisdom I take to be the knowledge
of things, divine and human, and of their causes.
15 This I take to be the culture acquired
under the Law, through which we learn with due reverence the things of God and
for our worldly profit the things of man.
16 Now wisdom is manifested under the
forms of judgement and justice, and courage, and temperance.
17 But judgement or self-control is
the one that dominates them all, for through it, in truth, Reason asserts its
authority over the passions.
18 But of the passions there are two
comprehensive sources, namely, pleasure and pain, and either belongs essentially
also to the soul as well as to the body.
19 And with respect both to pleasure
and pain there are many cases where the passions have certain sequences.
20 Thus while desire goes before
pleasure, satisfaction follows after, and while fear goes before pain, after
pain comes sorrow.
21 Anger, again, if a man will retrace
the course of his feelings, is a passion in which are blended both pleasure and
pain.
22 Under pleasure, also, comes that
moral debasement which
exhibits the widest variety of the
passions.
23 It manifests itself in the soul as
ostentation, and covetousness, and vain-glory, and contentiousness, and
backbiting, and in the body as eating of strange meat, and gluttony, and
gormandizing in secret.
24 Now pleasure and pain being as it
were two trees, growing from body and soul, many offshoots of these passions
sprout up; and each man's Reason as master-gardener, weeding and pruning and
binding up, and turning on the water and directing it hither and thither,
brings the thicket of dispositions and passions under domestication.
25 For while Reason is the guide of
the virtues it is master of the passions.
26 Observe, now, in the first place,
that Reason becomes supreme over the passions in virtue of the inhibitory
action of temperance.
27 Temperance, I take it, is the repression
of the desires; but of the desires some are mental and some physical, and both
kinds are clearly controlled by Reason; when we are tempted towards forbidden
meats, how do we come to relinquish the pleasures to be derived from them?
28 Is it not that Reason has power to
repress the appetites? In my opinion it is so.
29 Accordingly when we feel a desire to
eat water-animals and birds and beasts and meats of every description forbidden
to us under the Law, we abstain through the predominance of Reason.
30 For the propensions of our appetites
are checked and inhibited by the temperate mind, and all the movements of the
body obey the bridle of Reason.
31 And what is there to be surprised
at if the natural desire
of the soul to enjoy the fruition
of beauty is quenched?
32 This, certainly, is why we praise
the virtuous Joseph, because by his Reason, with a mental effort, he checked
the carnal impulse. For he, a young man at the age when physical desire is
strong, by his Reason quenched the impulse of his passions.
33 And Reason is proved to subdue the
impulse not only of sexual desire, but of all sorts of covetings.
34 For the Law says, 'Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbour's wife, nor anything that is thy neighbour's.'
35 Verily, when the Law orders us not
to covet, it should, I think, confirm strongly the argument that the Reason is
capable of controlling covetous desires, even as it does the passions that
militate against justice.
36 How else, can a man, naturally
gormandizing and greedy and drunken, be taught to change his nature, if the
Reason be not manifestly the master of the passions?
37 Certainly, as soon as a man orders
his life according to the Law, if he is miserly he acts contrary to his nature,
and lends money to the needy without interest, and at the seventh-year periods
cancels the debt.
38 And if he is parsimonious, he is
overruled by the Law through the action of Reason, and refrains from gleaning
his stubbles or picking the last grapes from his vineyards.
39 And with regard to all the rest we
can recognize that Reason is in the position of master over the passions or
affections.
40 For the Law ranks above affection
for parents, so that a man may not for their sakes surrender his virtue, and it
overrides love for a wife, so that if she transgress a man should rebuke her,
and it governs love for children, so that if they are naughty a man should
punish them, and it controls the claims of friendship, so that a man should
reprove his friends if they do evil.
41 And do not think it a paradoxical
thing when Reason through the Law is able to overcome even hatred, so that a
man refrains from cutting down the enemy's orchards, and protects the property
of the enemy from the spoilers, and gathers up their goods that have been scattered.
42 And the rule of Reason is likewise
proved to extend through the more aggressive passions or vices, ambition,
vanity, ostentation, pride, and backbiting.
43 For the temperate mind repels all
these debased passions, even as it does anger, for it conquers even this.
44 Yea, Moses when he was angered
against Dathan and Abiram did not give free course to his wrath, but governed
his anger by his Reason.
45 For the temperate mind is able, as
I said, to win the victory over the passions, modifying some, while crushing
others absolutely.
46 Why else did our wise father Jacob
blame the houses of Simeon and Levi for their unreasoning slaughter of the
tribe of the Shechemites, saying, 'Accursed be their anger!'
47 For had not Reason possessed the
power to restrain their anger he would not have spoken thus.
48 For in the day when God created
man, he implanted in him his passions and inclinations, and also, at the very
same time, set the mind on a throne amidst the senses to be his sacred guide in
all things; and to the mind he gave the Law, by the which if a man order
himself, he shall reign over a kingdom that is temperate, and just, and virtuous,
and brave.
CHAP. II.
The ruling of Desire and Anger. The story of David's thirst. Stirring
chapters of ancient history. Savage attempts to make the Jews eat swine.
Interesting references to an ancient bank (Verse 21.)
WELL then, someone may ask, if
Reason is master of the passions why is it not master of forgetfulness and
ignorance?
2 But the argument is supremely ridiculous.
For Reason is not shown to be master over passions or defects in itself, but
over those of the body.
3 For example, none of you is able
to extirpate our natural desire, but the Reason can enable him to escape being
made a slave by desire.
4 None of you is able to extirpate
anger from the soul, but it is possible for the Reason to come to his aid
against anger.
5 None of you can extirpate a malevolent
disposition, but Reason can be his powerful ally against being swayed by
malevolence.
6 Reason is not the extirpate of the
passions, but their antagonist.
7 The case of the thirst of King
David may serve at least to make this clearer.
8 For when David had fought the
live-long day against the Philistines, and by the help of our country's warriors
had slain many of them, he came at eventide, all fordone with sweat and toil,
to the royal tent, around which was encamped the whole army of our ancestors.
9 So all the host fell to their evening
meal; but the king, being consumed with an intense thirst, though he had
abundance of water, was unable to slake it.
10 Instead, an irrational desire for
the water that was in the possession of the enemy with growing intensity burned
him up and unmanned and consumed him.
11 Then when his body-guard murmured
against the craving of the king, two youths, mighty warriors, ashamed that
their king should lack his desire, put on all their armour, and took a water-vessel,
and scaled the enemy's ramparts; and stealing undetected past the guards at the
gate, they searched through all the enemy's camp.
12 And they bravely found the spring,
and drew from it a draught for the king.
13 But David, though still burning with
the thirst, considered that such a draught, reckoned as equivalent to blood,
was a grievous danger to his soul.
14 Therefore, opposing his Reason to
his desire, he poured out the water as an offering to God.
15 For the temperate mind is able to
conquer the dictates of the passions, and to quench the fires of desire, and to
wrestle victoriously with the pangs of our bodies though they be exceeding
strong, and by the moral beauty and goodness of Reason to defy with scorn all
the domination of the passions.
16 And now the occasion calls us to
set forth the story of the self-controlled Reason.
17 At a time when our fathers enjoyed
great peace through the due observance of the Law, and were in happy case, so
that Seleucus Nicanor, the king of Asia, sanctioned the tax for the
temple-service, and recognized our polity, precisely then, certain men, acting
factiously against the general concord, involved us in many and various
calamities.
18 Onias, a man of the highest character,
being then high priest and having the office for his life, a certain Simon
raised a faction against him, but since despite every kind of slander he failed
to injure him on account of the people, he fled abroad with intent to betray
his country.
19 So he came to Apollonius, the
governor of Syria and Phoenicia and Cilicia, and said, 'Being loyal to the
king, I am here to inform you that in the treasuries of Jerusalem are stored
many thousands of private deposits, not belonging to the temple account, and
rightfully the property of King Seleucus.'
20 Apollonius having made inquiry
into the details of the matter, praised Simon for his loyal service to the
king, and hastening to the court of Seleucus, disclosed to him the valuable
treasure; then, after receiving authority to deal with the matter, he promptly
marched into our country, accompanied by the accursed Simon and a very powerful
army, and announced that he was there by the king's command to take possession
of the private deposits in the treasury.
21 Our people were deeply angered by
this announcement, and protested strongly, considering it, an outrageous thing
for those who had entrusted their deposits to the temple treasury to be robbed
of them, and they threw all possible obstacles in his way.
22 Apollonius, however, with threats,
made his way into the temple.
23 Then the priests in the temple and
the women and children besought God to come to the rescue of his Holy Place
that was being violated; and when Apollonius with his armed host marched in to
seize the moneys, there appeared from heaven
angels, riding upon horses, with
lightning flashing from their arms, and cast great fear and trembling upon
them.
24 And Apollonius fell down half-dead
in the Court of the Gentiles, and stretched out his hands to heaven, and with
tears he entreated the Hebrews that they would make intercession for him and
stay the wrath of the heavenly host.
25 For he said that he had sinned and
was worthy even of death, and that if he were given his life he would laud to
all men the blessedness of the Holy Place.
26 Moved by these words, Onias, the
high-priest, although most scrupulous in other cases, made intercession for him
lest king Seleucus should possibly think that Apollonius had been overthrown by
a human device and not by divine justice.
27 Apollonius, accordingly, after his
astonishing deliverance departed to report to the king the things that had
befallen him.
28 But Seleucus dying, his successor
on the throne was his son Antiochus Epiphanes, an overweening terrible man; who
dismissed Onias from his sacred office, and made his brother Jason high-priest
instead, the condition being that in return for the appointment Jason should
pay him three thousand six hundred and sixty talents yearly.
29 So he appointed Jason high-priest
and made him chief ruler over the people.
30 And he (Jason) introduced to our
people a new way of life and a new constitution in utter defiance of the Law;
so that not only did he lay out a gymnasium on the Mount of our fathers, but he
actually abolished the service of the temple.
31 Wherefore the divine justice was
kindled to anger and brought Antiochus himself as an enemy against us.
32 For when. be was carrying on war
with Ptolemy in Egypt and heard that the people of Jerusalem had rejoiced
exceedingly over a report of his death, he immediately marched back against
them.
33 And when he had plundered the city
he made a decree denouncing the penalty of death upon any who should be seen to
live after the law of our fathers.
34 But he found all his decrees of no
avail to break down the constancy of our people to the Law, and he beheld all
his threats and penalties utterly despised, so that even women for circumcising
their sons, though they knew beforehand what would be their fate, were flung, together
with their offspring, headlong from the rocks.
35 When therefore his decrees continued
to be contemned by the mass of the people, he personally tried to force by
tortures each man separately to eat unclean meats and thus abjure the Jewish
religion.
36 Accordingly, the tyrant Antiochus,
accompanied by his councillors, sat in judgement on a certain high place with
his troops drawn up around him in full armour, and he ordered his guards to
drag there every single man of the Hebrews and compel them to eat swine's flesh
and things offered to idols; but if any should refuse to defile themselves with
the unclean things, they were to he tortured and put to death.
37 And when many had been taken by
force, one man first from among the company was brought before Antiochus, a
Hebrew whose name was Eleazar, a priest by birth, trained in knowledge of the
law, a man advanced in years and well known to many of the tyrant's court for
his philosophy.
38 And Antiochus, looking on him,
said: 'Before I allow the tortures to
begin for you, O venerable man, I
would give you this counsel, that you should eat of the flesh of the swine and
save your life; for I respect your age and your grey hairs, although to have
worn them so long a time, and still to cling to the Jewish religion, makes me
think you no philosopher.
39 For most excellent is the meat of
this animal which Nature has graciously bestowed upon us, and why should you
abominate it? Truly it is folly not to enjoy innocent pleasures, and it is
wrong to reject Nature's favours.
40 But it will be still greater
folly, I think, on your part if with idle vapouring about truth you shall proceed
to defy even me to your own punishment.
41 Will you not awake from your
preposterous philosophy? Will you not fling aside the nonsense of your calculations
and, adopting another frame of mind befitting your mature years, learn the true
philosophy of expediency, and how to my charitable counsel, and have pity on
your own venerable age?
42 For consider this, too, that even
if there be some Power whose eye is upon this religion of yours, he will always
pardon you for a transgression done under compulsion.'
43 bus urged by the tyrant to the
unlawful eating of unclean meat, Eleazar asked permission to speak; and
receiving it, he began his speech before the court as follows:
44 'We, O Antiochus, having accepted
the Divine Law as the Law of our country, do not believe any stronger necessity
is laid upon us than that of our obedience to the Law.
45 Therefore we do surely deem it
right not. in any way whatsoever to transgress the Law.
46 And yet, were our Law, as you
suggest, not truly divine, while we vainly believed it to be divine, not even
so would it be right for us to destroy our reputation for piety.
47 Think it not, then, a small sin
for us to eat the unclean thing, for the transgression of the Law, be it in
small things or in great, is equally heinous; for in either case equally the
Law is despised.
48 And you scoff at our philosophy,
as if under it we were living in a manner contrary to reason.
49 Not so, for the Law teaches us
self-control, so that we are masters of all our pleasures and desires and are
thoroughly trained in manliness so as to endure all pain with readiness; and it
teaches justice, so that with all our various dispositions we act fairly, and
it teaches righteousness, so that with due reverence we worship only the God
who is.
50 Therefore do we eat no unclean
meat; for believing our Law to be given by God, we know also that the Creator
of the world, as a Lawgiver, feels for us according to our nature.
51 He has commanded us to eat the
things that will be convenient for our souls, and he has forbidden us to eat
meats that would be the contrary.
52 But it is the act of a tyrant that
you should compel us not only to transgress the Law, but should also make us
eat in such manner that you may mock at' this defilement so utterly abominable
to us.
53 But you shall not mock at me thus,
neither will I break the sacred oaths of my ancestors to keep the Law, not even
though you tear out mine eyes and bum out mine entrails.
54 I am not so unmanned by old age
but that when righteousness is at stake the strength of youth returns to my
Reason.
55 So twist hard your racks and blow
your furnace hotter. I do not so pity mine old age as to break the Law of my
fathers in mine own person.
56 I will not belie thee, O Law that
wast my teacher; I will not desert thee, O beloved self-control; I will not put
thee to shame, O wisdom-loving Reason, nor will I deny ye, O venerated
priesthood and knowledge of the Law.
57 Neither shalt thou sully the pure
mouth of mine old age and my lifelong constancy to the Law. Clean shall my
fathers receive me, unafraid of thy torments even to the death.
58 For thou indeed mayest be tyrant
over unrighteous men, but thou shalt not lord it over my resolution in the
matter of righteousness either by thy words or through thy deeds.'
CHAP. III.
Eleazar, the gentle spirited old man, shows such fortitude that even as
we read these words 2000 years later, they seem like an inextinguishable fire.
BUT when Eleazar replied thus eloquently
to the exhortations of the tyrants, the guards around him dragged him roughly
to the torturing place.
2 And first they unclothed the old
man, who was adorned with the beauty of holiness.
3 Then binding his arms on either
side they scourged him, a herald standing and shouting out over against him,
'Obey the orders of the king!'
4 But the great-souled and noble
man, an Eleazar in very truth, was no more moved in his mind than if he were
being tormented in a dream; yea, the old man keeping his eyes steadfastly
raised to heaven suffered his flesh to be tom by the scourges till he was
bathed in blood and his sides became a mass of wounds; and even when he fell to
the ground because his body could no longer support the pain he still kept his
Reason erect and inflexible.
5 With his foot then one of the cruet
guards as he fell kicked him savagely in the side to make him get up.
6 But he endured the anguish, and
despised the compulsion, and bore up under the torments, and like a brave
athlete taking punishment, the old man outwore his tormentors.
7 The sweat stood on his brow, and
he drew his breath in hard gasps, till his nobility of soul extorted the admiration
of his tormentors themselves.
8 Hereupon, partly in pity for his
old age, partly in sympathy for their friend, partly in admiration of his
courage, some of the courtiers of the king went tip to him and said:
9 'Why, O Eleazar, dost thou madly
destroy thyself in this misery? We will bring to thee of the seethed meats, but
do thou feign only to partake of the swine's flesh, and so save thyself.'
10 And Eleazar, as if their counsel
did but add to his tortures, cried loudly: 'No. May we sons of Abraham never
have so evil a thought as with faint heart to counterfeit a part unseemly to
us.
11 Contrary to Reason, indeed, were
it for us, after living unto the truth till old age, and guarding in lawful
guise the repute of so living, now to change and become in our own persons a
pattern to the young of impiety, to the end that we should encourage them to
eat unclean meat.
12 Shame were it if we should live on
a little longer, during that little being mocked of all men for cowardice, and
while despised by the tyrant as unmanly should fail to defend the Divine Law
unto the death.
13 Therefore, O sons of Abraham, do
ye die nobly for righteousness' sake; but as for you, O minions of the tyrant,
why pause ye in your work?'
14 So they, seeing him thus triumphant
over the tortures and unmoved even by the pity of his executioners, dragged him
to the fire.
15 There they cast him on it, burning
him with cruelly cunning devices, and they poured broth of evil odour into his
nostrils.
16 But when the fire already reached
to his bones and he was about to give up the ghost, he lifted up his eyes to
God and said:
17 'Thou, O God, knowest that though
I might save myself I am dying by fiery torments for thy Law. Be merciful unto
thy people, and let our punishment be a satisfaction in their behalf. Make my
blood their purification, and take my soul to ransom their souls,,
18 And with these words the holy man
nobly yielded up his spirit under the torture I and for the sake of the Law
held out by his Reason even against the torments unto death.
19 Beyond question, then, the Inspired
Reason is master over the passions; for if his passions or sufferings had
prevailed over his Reason we should have credited them with this evidence of
their superior power.
20 But now his Reason having conquered
his passions, we properly attribute to it the power of commanding them.
21 And it is right that we should
admit that the mastery lies with Reason, in cases at least where it conquers
pains that come from outside ourselves; for it were ridiculous to deny it.
22 And my proof covers not only the
superiority of Reason to pains, but its superiority to pleasures also; neither
does it surrender to them.
CHAP. IV.
This so called "Age of Reason" may in this chapter read that
the Philosophy of Reason is 2000 years old. The story of seven sons and their
mother.
FOR the Reason of our father
Eleazar, like a fine steersman steering the ship of sanctity on the sea of the
passions, though buffeted by the threats of the tyrant and swept by the
swelling waves of the tortures, never shifted for one moment the helm of
sanctity until he sailed into the haven of victory over death.
2 No city besieged with many and
cunning engines ever defended itself so well as did that holy man when his
sacred soul was attacked with scourge and rack and flame, and he moved them who
were laying siege to his soul through his Reason that was the shield of
sanctity.
3 For our father Eleazar, setting
his mind film as a beetling sea-cliff, broke the mad onset of the surges of the
passions.
4 O priest worthy of thy priesthood,
thou didst not defile thy holy teeth, nor didst thou befoul with unclean meat
thy belly that had room only for piety and purity.
5 O confessor of the Law and philosopher
of the Divine life! Such should those be whose office is to serve the Law and
defend it with their own blood and honourable sweat in the face of sufferings
to the death.
6 Thou, O father, didst fortify our
fidelity to the Law through thy steadfastness unto glory; and having spoken in
honour of holiness thou didst not belie thy speech, and didst confirm the words
of divine philosophy by thy deeds, O aged man that wast more forceful than the
tortures.
7 O reverend elder that wast
tenser-strung than the flame, thou great king over the passions, Eleazar.
8 For as our father Aaron, armed
with the censer, ran through the massed congregation against the fiery angel
and overcame him, so the son of Aaron, Eleazar, being consumed by the melting
heat of the fire, remained unshaken in his Reason.
9 And yet most wonderful of all, he,
being an old man, with the sinews of his body unstrung and his muscles relaxed
and his nerves weakened, grew a young man again in the spirit of his Reason and
with Isaac-like Reason turned the hydra-headed torture to impotence.
10 O blessed age, O reverend grey
head, O life faithful to the Law and perfected by the seal of death!
11 Assuredly, then, if an old man
despised the torments unto death for righteousness' sake it must be admitted
that the Inspired Reason is able to guide the passions.
12 But some perhaps may answer that
not all men are masters of the passions because not all men have their Reason enlightened.
13 But as many as with their whole
heart make righteousness their first thought, these alone are able to master
the weakness of the flesh, believing that unto God they die not, as our patriarchs,
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, died not, but that they live unto God.
14 Therefore there is-nothing contradictory
in certain persons appearing to be slaves to passion in consequence of the
weakness of their Reason.
15 For who is there that being a philosopher
following righteously the whole rule of philosophy, and having put his trust in
God, and knowing that it is a blessed thing to endure all hardness for the sake
of virtue, would not conquer his passions for the sake of righteousness?
16 For the wise and self-controlled
man alone is the brave ruler of the passions.
17 Yea, by this means even young
boys, being philosophers by virtue of the Reason which is according to
righteousness, have triumphed over yet more grievous tortures.
18 For when the tyrant found himself
notably defeated in his first attempt, and impotent to compel an old man to eat
unclean meat, then truly in violent rage he ordered the guards to bring others
of the young men of the Hebrews, and if they would eat unclean meat to release
them after eating it, but if they refused, to torture them yet more savagely.
19 And under these orders of the tyrant
seven brethren together with their aged mother were brought prisoners before
him, all handsome, and modest, and well-born,—and generally attractive.
20 And when the tyrant saw them
there, standing as if they were a festal choir with their mother in the midst,
he took notice of them, and struck by their noble and distinguished bearing he
smiled at them, and calling them nearer said:
21 'O young men, I wish well to each
one of you, and admire your beauty, and honour highly so large a band of
brothers; so not only do I advise you not to persist in the madness of that old
man who has already suffered, but I even entreat of you to yield to me and
become partakers in my friendship.
22 For, as I am able to punish those
who disobey my orders, so am I able to advance those who do obey me.
23 Be assured then that you shall be
given positions of importance and authority in my service if you will reject
the ancestral law of your polity.
24 Share in the Hellenic life, and
walk in a new way, and take some pleasure in your youth; for if you drive me to
anger with your disobedience you will compel me to resort to terrible penalties
and put every single one of you to death by torture.
25 Have pity then on yourselves, whom
even I, your opponent, pity for your youth and your beauty.
26 Will you not consider with yourselves
this thing, that if you disobey me there is nothing before you but death in
torments?'
27 With these words he ordered the
instruments of torture to be brought forward in order to persuade them by fear
to eat unclean meat.
28 But when the guards had produced
wheels, and joint-dislocators, and racks, and bone-crushers, and catapults, and
cauldrons, and braziers, and thumb-screws, and iron claws, and wedges, and
branding irons, the tyrant spoke again and said:
29 'You had better feel fear, my
lads, and the justice you worship will pardon your unwilling transgression.'
30 But they, hearing his persuasions,
and seeing his dreadful engines, not only showed no fear but actually arrayed
their philosophy in opposition to the tyrant, and by their right Reason did
abase his tyranny.
31 And yet consider; supposing some
amongst them to have been faint-hearted and cowardly, what sort of language
would they have used? would it not have been to this effect?
32 'Alas! miserable creatures that we
are and foolish above measure! When the king invites us and appeals to us on
terms of kind treatment shall we not obey him?
33 Why do we encourage ourselves with
vain desires and dare a disobedience that is to cost us our lives? Shall we
not, O men my brothers, fear the dread instruments and weigh well his threats
of the tortures, and abandon these empty vaunts and this fatal bragging?
34 Let us take pity on our own youth
and have compassion on our mother's age; and let us lay to heart that if we
disobey we shall die.
35 And even the divine justice will
have mercy on us, if compelled by necessity we yield to the king in fear. Why
should we cast away from us this dear life and rob ourselves of this sweet
world?
36 Let us not strive against necessity
nor with vain confidence invite our torture.
37 Even the Law itself does not willingly
condemn us to death, we being in terror of the instruments of torture.
38 Why does such contentiousness
inflame us and a fatal obstinacy find favour with us, when we might have a
peaceful life by obeying the king?'
39 But no such words escaped these
young men at the prospect of the torture, nor did such thoughts enter into
their minds.
40 For they were despisers of the
passions and masters over pain.
CHAP. V.
A chapter of horror and torture revealing ancient tyranny at its utmost
savagery. Verse 26 is profound truth.
AND thus no sooner did the tyrant
conclude his urging of them to eat unclean meat than all with one voice
together, and as with one soul, said to him:
2 'Why dost thou delay, O tyrant? We
are ready to die rather than transgress the commandments of our fathers.
3 For we should be putting our ancestors
also to shame, if we did not walk in obedience to the Law and take Moses as our
counsellor.
4 O tyrant that counsellest us to
transgress the Law, do not, hating us, pity us beyond ourselves.
5 For we esteem thy mercy, giving.
us our life in return for a breach of the Law, a thing harder to bear than
death itself.
6 Thou wouldst terrify us with thy
threats of death under torture, as if a little while ago thou hadst learned
nothing from Eleazar.
7 But if the old men of the Hebrews
endured the tortures for righteousness' sake, yea, until they died, more
befittingly will we young men die despising the torments of thy compulsion,
over which he our aged teacher also triumphed.
8 Make trial therefore, O tyrant.
And if thou takest our lives for the sake of righteousness, think not that thou
hurtest us with thy tortures.
9 For we through this our evil entreatment
and our endurance of it shall win the prize of virtue; but thou for our cruel
murder shalt suffer at the hands of divine justice sufficient torment by fire
for ever.'
10 These words of the youths redoubled
the wrath of the tyrant, not at their disobedience only but at what he
considered their ingratitude.
11 So by his orders the scourgers
brought forward the eldest of them and stripped him of his garment and bound
his hands and arms on either side with thongs.
12 But when they had scourged him
till they were weary, and gained nothing thereby, they cast him upon the wheel.
13 And on it the noble youth was
racked till his bones were out of joint. And as joint after joint gave way, he
denounced the tyrant in these words:
14 'O thou most abominable tyrant,
thou enemy of the justice of heaven and bloody-minded, thou dost torment me in
this fashion not for manslaying nor for impiety but for defending the Law of
God.'
15 And when the guards said to him,
'Consent to eat, that so you may be released from your tortures,' he said to
them, 'Your method, O miserable minions, is not strong enough to lead captive
my Reason. Cut off my limbs, and burn my flesh, and twist my joints; through
all the torments I will show you that in behalf of virtue the sons of the
Hebrews alone are unconquerable.'
16 As he thus spake they set hot
coals upon him besides, and intensifying the torture strained him yet tighter
on the wheel.
17 And all the wheel was besmeared
with his blood, and the heaped coals were quenched by the humours of his body
dropping down, and the rent flesh ran round the axles of the machine.
18 And with his bodily frame already
in dissolution this great-souled youth, like a true son of Abraham, groaned not
at all; but as if he were suffering a change by fire to incorruption, he nobly
endured the torment, saying:
19 'Follow my example, O brothers. Do
not for ever desert me, and forswear not our brotherhood in nobility of soul.
20 War a holy and honourable warfare
on behalf of righteousness, through which may the just Providence that watched
over our fathers become merciful unto his people and take
vengeance on the accursed tyrant.'
21 And with these words the holy
youth yielded up the ghost.
22 But while all were wondering at
his constancy of soul, the guards brought forward the second in age of the.
sons, and grappling him with sharp-clawed hands of iron they fastened him to
the engines and the catapult.
23 But when they heard his noble
resolve in answer to their question, 'Would he eat rather than he tortured?'
these panther-like beasts tore at his sinews with claws of iron, and rent away
all the flesh from his cheeks, and tore off the skin from his head.
24 But he steadfastly enduring this
agony said, 'How sweet is every form of death for the sake of the righteousness
of our fathers!'
25 And to the tyrant he said, 'O most
ruthless of tyrants, doth not it seem to thee that at this moment thou thyself
sufferest tortures worse than mine in seeing thy tyranny's arrogant intention
overcome by my endurance for righteousness' sake?
26 For I am supported under pain by
the joys that come through virtue, whereas thou art in torment whilst glorying
in thy impiety; neither shalt thou escape, O most abominable tyrant, the
penalties of the divine wrath.'
27 And when he had bravely met his
glorious death, the third son was brought forward and was earnestly entreated
by many to taste and so to save himself.
28 But he answered in a loud voice,
'Are ye ignorant that the same father begat me and my brothers that are dead,
and the same mother gave us birth, and in the same doctrines was I brought up?
29 I do not forswear the noble bond
of brotherhood.
30 Therefore if ye have any engine of
torment, apply it to this body of mine; for my soul ye cannot reach, not if ye
would.'
31 But they were greatly angered at
the bold speech of the man, and they dislocated his hands and his feet with
their dislocating engines, and wrenched his limbs out of their sockets, and
unstrung them; and they twisted round his fingers, and his arms, and his legs,
and his elbow-joints.
32 And in no wise being able to
strangle his spirit they stripped off his skin, taking the points of the fingers
with it, and tore in Scythian fashion the scalp from his head, and straightway
brought him to the wheel.
33 And on this they twisted his spine
till he saw his own flesh hanging in strips and great gouts of blood pouring
down from his entrails.
34 And at the point of death he said,
'We, O most abominable tyrant, suffer thus for our upbringing and our virtue
that are of God; but thou for thy impiety and thy cruelty shall endure torments
without end.'
35 And when' this man had died
worthily of his brothers, they brought up the fourth, and said to him, 'Be not
thou also mad with the same madness as thy brethren, but obey the king and save
thyself.'
36 But he said unto them, 'For me ye
have no fire so exceeding hot as to make me a coward.
37 By the blessed death of my brethren,
by the eternal doom of the tyrant, and by the glorious life of the righteous, I
will not deny my noble brotherhood.
38 Invent tortures, O tyrant, in order
that thou mayest learn thereby that I am brother of those who have been already
tortured.'
39 When he heard this the bloodthirsty,
murderous, and
utterly abominable Antiochus bade
them cut out his tongue.
40 But he said, 'Even if thou dost
remove my organ of speech, God is a hearer also of the speechless.
41 Lo, I put out my tongue ready: cut
it out, for thou shalt not thereby silence my Reason.
42 Gladly do we give our bodily
members to be mutilated for the cause of God.
43 But God will speedily pursue after
thee; for thou cuttest out the tongue that sang songs of praise unto him.'
44 But when this man also was put to
a death of agony with the tortures, the fifth sprang forward saying, 'I shrink
not, O tyrant, from demanding the torture for virtue's sake.
45 Yea, of myself I come forward, in
order that, slaying me also, thou mayest by yet more misdeeds increase the
penalty thou owest to the justice of Heaven.
46 O enemy of virtue and enemy of
man, for what crime dost thou destroy us in this way?
47 Doth it seem evil to thee that we
worship the Creator of all and live according to his virtuous Law?
48 But these things are worthy of
honours not of tortures, if thou didst understand human aspirations and hadst
hope of salvation before God.
49 Lo, now thou art God's enemy and
makest war on those that worship God.'
50 As he spake thus the guards bound
him and brought him before the catapult; and they tied him thereto on his
knees, and, fastening them there with iron clamps, they wrenched his loins over
the rolling 'wedge' so that he was completely curled back like a scorpion and
every joint was disjointed.
51 And thus in grievous strait for
breath and anguish of body he exclaimed, 'Glorious, O tyrant, glorious against
thy will are the boons that thou bestowest on me, enabling me to show my
fidelity to the Law through yet more honourable tortures.'
52 And when this man also was dead,
the sixth was brought, a mere boy, who in answer to the tyrant's inquiry
whether he was willing to eat and be released, said:
53 'I am not so old in years as my
brethren, but I am as old in mind. For we were born and reared for the same
purpose and are equally bound also to die for the same cause; so if thou
chooseth to torture us for not eating unclean meat, torture.'
54 As he spake these words they
brought him to the wheel, and with care they stretched him out and dislocated
the bones of his back and set fire under him.
55 And they made sharp skewers
red-hot and ran them into his back, and piercing through his sides they burned
away his entrails also.
56 But he in the midst of his tortures
exclaimed, 'O contest worthy of saints, wherein so many of us brethren, in the
cause of righteousness, have been entered for a competition in torments, and
have not been conquered!
57 For the righteous understanding, O
tyrant, is unconquerable.
58 In the armour of virtue I go to
join my brothers in death, and to add in myself one strong avenger more to
punish thee, O deviser of the tortures and enemy of the truly righteous.
59 We six youths have overthrown thy
tyranny. 'For is not thine impotence to alter our Reason or force us to eat
unclean meat an overthrow for thee?
60 Thy fire is cool for us, thy engines
of torture torment not, and thy violence is impotent.
61 For the guards have been officers
for us, not of a tyrant, but of the Divine Law; and therefore have we our
Reason yet unconquered.'
CHAP. VI.
Brotherly bonds and a mother's love.
AND when this one also died a
blessed death, being cast into the cauldron, the seventh son, the youngest of
them all, came forward.
2 But the tyrant, although fiercely
exasperated by his brethren, felt pity for the boy, and seeing him there already
bound he had him brought near, and sought to persuade him, saying: 'Thou seest
the end of the folly of thy brethren; for through their disobedience they have
been racked to death. Thou, too, if thou dost not obey, wilt thyself also be
miserably tortured and put to death before thy time; but if thou dost obey thou
shalt be my friend, and thou shalt be advanced to high office in the business
of the kingdom.'
4 And while thus appealing to him he
sent for the boy's mother, in order that in her sorrow for the loss of so many
sons she might urge the survivor to obey and be saved.
5 But the mother, speaking in the
Hebrew tongue, as I shall tell later on, encouraged the boy, and he said to the
guards, 'Loose me, that I may speak to the king and to all his friends with
him.'
6 And they, rejoicing at the boy's
request, made haste to loose him.
7 And running up to the red-hot
brazier, 'O impious tyrant,' he cried, 'and most ungodly of all sinners, art
thou not ashamed to take thy blessings and thy kingship at the hands of God,
and to slay his servants and torture the followers of righteousness?
8 For which things the divine justice
delivers thee unto a more rapid and an eternal fire and torments which shall
not leave hold on thee to all eternity.
9 Art thou not ashamed, being a man,
O wretch with the heart of a wild beast, to take men of like feelings with
thyself, made from the same elements, and tear out their tongues, and scourge
and torture them in this manner?
10 But while they have fulfilled
their righteousness towards God in their noble deaths, thou shalt miserably cry
"Woe is met" for thy unjust slaying of the champions of virtue.'
11 And then standing on the brink of
death he said, 'I am no renegade to the witness borne by my brethren.
12 And I call upon the God of my
fathers to be merciful unto my nation.
13 And thee will he Punish both in
this present life and after that thou art dead.'
14 And with this prayer he cast himself
into the red-hot brazier, and so gave up the ghost.
15 If therefore the seven brethren
despised the tortures even to the death, it is universally proved that the Inspired
Reason is supreme lord over the passions.
16 For if they had yielded to their
passions or sufferings and eaten unclean meat we should have said that they had
been conquered thereby.
17 But in this cam it was not so; on
the contrary by their Reason, which was commended in the sight of God, they
rose superior to their passions.
18 And it is impossible to deny the
supremacy of the mind; for they won the victory over their passions and their
pains.
19 How can we do otherwise than admit
right Reason's mastery over passion with these men who shrank not before the
agonies of burning?
20 For even as towers on
harbour-moles repulse the assaults of the waves and offer a calm entrance to
those entering the haven, so the seven-towered right Reason of the youths
defended the haven of righteousness and repulsed the tempestuousness of the
passions.
21 They formed a holy choir of
righteousness as they cheered one another on, saying:
22 'Let us die like brothers, O brethren,
for the Law.
23 Let us imitate the Three Children
at the Assyrian court who despised this same ordeal of the furnace.
24 Let us not turn cravens before the
proof of righteousness.'
25 And one said, 'Brother, be of good
cheer,' and another, 'Bear it out nobly'; and another recalling the past,
'Remember of what stock ye are, and at whose fatherly hand Isaac for righteousness'
sake yielded himself to be a sacrifice.'
26 And each and all of them together,
looking at each other brightly and very boldly, said, 'With a whole heart will
we consecrate ourselves unto God who gave us our souls, and let us lend our
bodies to the keeping of the Law.
27 Let us not fear him who thinketh
he kills; for a great struggle and peril of the soul awaits in eternal torment
those who transgress the ordinance of God.
28 Let us then arm ourselves with
divine Reason's mastery of the passions.
29 After this our passion, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob shall receive us, and all our forefathers shall praise us.'
30 And to each separate one of the
brothers, as they were dragged off, those whose turn was yet to come said, 'Do
not disgrace us, brother, nor be false to our brethren already dead.'
31 You are not ignorant of the love
of brethren, whereof the divine and all-wise Providence has given an inheritance
to those who are begotten though their fathers, implanting it in them even
through the mother's womb; wherein brethren do dwell the like period, and take
their form during the same time, and are nourished from the same blood, and are
quickened with the same soul, and are brought into the world after the same
space, and they draw milk from the same founts, whereby their fraternal souls
are nursed together in arms at the breast; and they are knit yet closer through
a common nurture and daily companionship and other education, and through our
discipline under the Law of God.
32 The feeling of brotherly love being
thus naturally strong, the seven brethren had their mutual concord made yet
stronger. For trained in the same Law, and disciplined in the same virtues, and
brought up together in the upright life, they loved one another the more
abundantly. Their common zeal for moral beauty and goodness heightened their mutual
concord, for in conjunction with their piety it rendered their brotherly love more
fervent.
33 But though nature, companionship,
and their virtuous disposition increased the ardour of their brotherly love,
nevertheless the surviving sons through their religion supported the sight of
their brethren, who were on the rack, being tortured to death; nay more, they
even encouraged them to face the agony, so as not only to despise their own tortures,
but also to conquer their passion of brotherly affection for their brethren.
34 O Reasoning minds, more kingly
than kings, than freemen more free, of the harmony of the seven brethren, holy
and well attuned to the keynote of piety!
35 None of the seven youths turned
coward, none shrunk in the face of death, but all hastened to the death by
torture as if running the road to immortality.
36 For as hands and feet move in
harmony with the promptings of the soul, so those holy youths, as if prompted
by the immortal soul of religion, went in harmony to death for its sake.
37 O all-holy sevenfold companionship
of brethren in harmony!
38 For as the seven days of the creation
of the world do enring religion, so did the youths choir-like enring their
sevenfold companionship, and made the terror of the tortures of no account.
39 We now shudder when we hear of the
suffering of those youths; but they, not only seeing it with their eyes, nor
merely hearing the spoken, imminent threat, but actually feeling the pang,
endured it through; and that in the torture by fire, than which what greater
agony can be found?
40 For sharp and stringent is the
power of fire, and swiftly did it bring their bodies to dissolution.
41 And think it not wonderful if with
those men Reason triumphed over the tortures, when even a woman's soul despised
a yet greater diversity of pains; for the mother of the seven youths endured
the torments inflicted on each several one of her children.
42 But consider how manifold are the
yearnings of a mother's heart, so that her feeling for her offspring becomes
the centre of her whole world; and indeed, here, even the irrational animals
have for their young an affection and love similar to men's.
43 For example, among the birds, the
tame ones sheltering under our roofs defend their nestlings; and those that
nest upon the mountain tops, and in the rock clefts, and in the holes of trees,
and in the branches, and hatch their young there, do also drive away the intruder.
44 And then, if they be unable to
drive him away, they flutter around the nestlings in a passion of love, calling
to them in their own speech, and they give succour to their young ones in whatever
fashion they can.
45 And what need have we of examples
of the love of offspring among irrational animals, when even the bees, about
the season of the making of the comb, fend off intruders, and stab with their
sting, as with a sword, those who approach their brood, and do battle against
them even to the death?
46 But she, the mother of those young
men, with a soul like Abraham, was not moved from her purpose by her affection
for her children.
CHAP. VII.
A comparison of a mother's and father's affections, in this chapter are
some mountain peaks of eloquence.
REASON of the sons, lord over the
passions! O religion, that wast dearer to the mother than her children!
2 The mother, having two choices
before her, religion and the present saving alive of her seven sons according
to the tyrant's promise, loved rather religion, which saveth unto eternal life
according to God.
3 O how may I express the passionate
love of parents for children? We stamp a marvellous likeness of our soul and of
our shape on the tender nature of the child, and most of all through the
mother's sympathy with her children being deeper than the father's.
4 For women are softer of soul than
men, and the more children they bear the more do they abound in love for them.
5 But, of all mothers, she of the
seven sons abounded in love beyond the rest, seeing that, having in seven
child-bearings felt maternal tenderness for the fruit of her womb, and having
been constrained because of the many pangs in which she bore each to a close
affection, she nevertheless through the fear of God rejected the present safety
of her children.
6 Ay, and more than that, through
the moral beauty and goodness of her sons and their obedience to the Law, her
maternal love for them was made stronger.
7 For they were just, and temperate,
and brave and great-souled, and lovers of each other and of their mother in
such manner that they obeyed her in the keeping of the Law even unto death.
8 But nevertheless, though she had
so many temptations to yield to her maternal instincts, in no single instance
did the dreadful variety of tortures have power to alter her Reason; but the
mother urged each son separately, and all together, to die for their religion.
9 O holy nature, and parental love,
and yearning of parents for offspring, and wages of nursing, and unconquerable
affection of mothers!
10 The mother, seeing them one by one
racked and burned, remained unshaken in soul for religion's sake.
11 She saw the flesh of her sons being
consumed in the fire, and the extremities of their hands and feet scattered on
the ground, and the flesh-covering, torn off from their heads right to their
cheeks, strewn about like masks.
12 O mother, who now knew sharper
pangs than the pangs of labour! O woman, alone among women, the fruit of whose
womb was perfect religion!
13 Thy firstborn, giving up the
ghost, did not alter thy resolution, nor thy second, looking with eyes of pity
on thee under his tortures, nor thy third, breathing out his spirit.
14 Neither didst thou weep when thou
beheldest the eyes of each amid the torments looking boldly on the same
anguish, and sawest in their quivering nostrils the signs of approaching death.
15 When thou sawest the flesh of one
son being severed after the flesh of another, and hand after hand being cut
off, and head after head being flayed, and corpse cast upon corpse, and the
place crowded with spectators on account of the tortures of thy children, thou
sheddest not a tear.
16 Not the melodies of the sirens nor
the songs of swans with sweet sound do so charm the hearer's ears, as sounded
the voices of the sons, speaking to the mother from amid the torments.
17 How many and how great were the
tortures with which the mother was tormented while her sons were being tortured
with torments of rack and fire!
18 But Inspired Reason lent her heart
a man's strength under her passion of suffering, and exalted her to make no
account of the present yearnings of mother-love.
19 And although she saw the destruction
of her seven children and the many and varied forms of their torments, the
noble mother willingly surrendered them through faith in God.
20 For she beheld in her own mind,
even as it had been cunning advocates in a council-chamber, nature, and
parenthood, and mother-love, and her children on the rack, and it was as if
she, the mother, having the choice between two votes in the case of her
children, one for their death and one to save them alive, thereupon regarded
not the saving of her seven sons for a little time, but, as a true daughter of
Abraham, called to mind his God-fearing courage.
21 O mother of the race, vindicator
of our Law, defender of our religion, and winner of the prize in the struggle
within thyself!
22 O woman, nobler to resist than
men, and braver than warriors to endure!
23 For as the Ark of Noah, with the
whole living world for her burden in the world-whelming Deluge, did withstand
the mighty surges, so thou, the keeper of the Law, beaten upon every side by
the surging waves of the passions, and strained as with strong blasts by the
tortures of thy sons, didst nobly weather the storms that assailed thee for religion's
sake.
24 Thus then, if one both a woman and
advanced in years, and the mother of seven sons, endured the sight of her
children being tortured to death, the Inspired Reason must confessedly be
supreme ruler over the passions.
25 I have proved, accordingly, that
not only have men triumphed over their sufferings, but that a woman also has
despised the most dreadful tortures.
26 And not so fierce were the lions
around Daniel, not so hot was the burning fiery furnace of Mishael, as burned
in her the instinct of motherhood at the sight of her seven sons being
tortured.
27 But by her religion-guided Reason
the mother quenched her passions, many and strong as they were.
28 For there is this also to consider,
that had the woman been weak of spirit, despite her motherhood, she might have
wept over them, and perchance spoken thus:
29 'Ah, thrice wretched me, and more
than thrice wretched! Seven children have I borne and am left childless!
30 In vain was I seven times with
child, and to no profit was my ten months' burden seven times borne, and
fruitless have been my nursings, and sorrowful my sucklings.
31 In vain for you, O my sons, did I
endure the many pangs of labour, and the more difficult cares of your upbringing.
32 Alas, for my sons, that some were
yet unwed, and those that were wedded had begotten no children; I shall never
see children of yours, nor shall I be called by the name of grandparent.
33 Ah me, that had many beautiful
children, and am a widow and desolate in my woe! Neither will there be any son
to bury me when I am dead!'
34 But the holy and God-fearing
mother wailed not with this lamentation over any one of them, neither besought
she any to escape death, nor lamented over them as dying men; but, as though
she had a soul of adamant and were bringing forth the number of her sons, for a
second time, into immortal life, she besought rather and entreated of them that
they should die for religion's sake.
35 O mother, warrior of God in the
cause of religion, old and a woman, thou didst both defeat the tyrant by thy
endurance, and wast found stronger than a man, in deeds as well as words.
36 For verily when thou wast put in
bonds with thy sons,
thou stoodest there seeing Eleazar
being tortured, and thou spakest to thy sons in the Hebrew tongue:
37 'My sons, noble is the fight; and
do ye, being called thereto to bear witness for our nation, fight therein
zealously on behalf of the Law of our fathers.
38 For it would be shameful if, while
this aged man endured the agony for religion's sake, you that are young men
shrank before the pain.
39 Remember that for the sake of God
ye have come into the world, and have enjoyed life, and that therefore ye owe
it to God to endure all pain for his sake; for whom also our father Abraham
made haste to sacrifice his son Isaac, the ancestor of our nation; and Isaac,
seeing his father's hand lifting the knife against him, did not shrink.
40 And Daniel, the just man, was cast
to the lions, and Ananias, Azarias, and Mishael were flung into the furnace of
fire, and they endured for God's sake.
41 And ye also, having the same faith
unto God, be not troubled; for it were against Reason that ye, knowing
righteousness, should not withstand the pains.'
42 With these words the mother of the
seven encouraged every single one of her sons to die rather than transgress the
ordinance of God; they themselves also knowing well that men dying for God live
unto God, as live Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs.
CHAP. VIII.
The famous "Athletes of Righteousness." Here ends the story of
courage called the Fourth Book of Maccabees.
SOME of the guards declared that
when she also was about to be seized and put to death, she cast herself on the
pyre in order that no man might touch her body.
2 O mother, that together with thy
seven sons didst break the tyrant's force, and bring to nought his evil devices,
and gavest an example of the nobleness of faith.
3 Thou wert nobly set as a roof upon
thy sons as pillars, and the earthquake of the torments shook thee not at all.
4 Rejoice therefore, pure-souled
mother, having the hope of thy endurance certain at the hand of God.
5 Not so majestic stands the moon
amid the stars in heaven as thou, having lit the path of thy seven starlike
sons unto righteousness, standest in honour with God; and thou art set in
heaven with them.
6 For thy child-bearing was from the
son of Abraham.
7 And had it been lawful for us to
paint, as might some artist, the tale of thy piety, would not the spectators
have shuddered at the mother of seven sons suffering for righteousness' sake
multitudinous tortures even unto death?
8 And indeed it were fitting to inscribe
these words over their resting-place, speaking for a memorial to future
generations of our people:
HERE LIE AN AGED PRIEST AND A WOMAN FULL OF YEARS
AND HER SEVEN SONS THROUGH THE VIOLENCE OF A TYRANT DESIRING TO DESTROY THE HEBREW
NATION. THEY VINDICATED THE RIGHTS OF OUR PEOPLE LOOKING UNTO GOD AND ENDURING
THE TORMENTS EVEN UNTO DEATH.
9 For truly it was a holy war which
was fought by them. For on that day virtue, proving them
through endurance, set before them
the prize of victory in incorruption in everlasting life.
10 But the first in the fight was
Eleazar, and the mother of the seven sons played her part, and the brethren
fought.
11 The tyrant was their adversary and
the world and the life of man were the spectators.
12 And righteousness won the victor
and gave the crown to her athletes. Who but wondered at the athletes of the
true Law?
13 Who were not amazed at them? The
tyrant himself and his whole council admired their endurance, whereby they now
do both Stand beside the throne of God and live the blessed age.
14 For Moses says, 'All also who have
sanctified themselves are under thy hands.'
15 And these men, therefore, having
sanctified themselves for God's sake, not only have received this honour, but
also the honour that through them the enemy had no more power over our people,
and the tyrant suffered punishment, and our country was purified, they having
as it were become a ransom for our nation's sin; and through the blood of these
righteous men and the propitiation of their death, the divine Providence delivered
Israel that before was evil entreated.
16 For when the tyrant Antiochus saw
the heroism of their virtue, and their endurance under the tortures, he
publicly held up their endurance to his soldiers as an example; and he thus
inspired his men with a sense of honour and heroism on the field of battle and
in the labours of besieging, so that he plundered and overthrew all his
enemies.
17 O Israelites, children born of the
seed of Abraham, obey this Law, and be righteous in all ways, recognizing that
Inspired Reason is lord over the passions, and over pains, not only from
within, but from without ourselves; by which means those men, delivering up
their bodies to the torture for righteousness' sake, not only won the
admiration of mankind, but were deemed worthy of a divine inheritance.
18 And through them the nation obtained
peace and restoring the observance of the Law in our country hath captured the
city from the enemy.
19 And vengeance hath pursued the
tyrant Antiochus upon earth, and in death he suffers punishment.
20 For when he failed utterly to constrain
the people of Jerusalem to live like Gentiles and abandon the customs of our
fathers, he thereupon left Jerusalem and marched away against the Persians.
21 Now these are the words that the
mother of the seven sons, the righteous woman, spake to her children:
22 'I was a pure maiden, and I
strayed not from my father's house, and I kept guard over the rib that was
builded into Eve.
23 No seducer of the desert, no deceiver
in the field, corrupted me; nor did the false, beguiling Serpent sully the
purity of my maidenhood; I lived with my husband all the days of my youth; but
when these my sons were grown up, their father died.
24 Happy was he; for he lived a life
blessed with children, and he never knew the pain of their loss.
25 Who, while he was yet with us,
taught you the Law and the prophets. He read to us of Abel who was slain by
Cain, and of Isaac who was offered as a burnt-offering, and of Joseph in the
prison.
26 And he spake to us of Phineas, the
zealous priest, and he taught you the song of
Ananias, Azarias, and Mishael in
the fire.
27 And he glorified also Daniel in
the den of lions, and blessed him; and he called to your minds the saying of
Isaiah,
28 "Yea even though thou pass
through the fire, the flame shall not hurt thee."
29 He sang to us the words of David
the psalmist, "Many are the afflictions of the just."
30 He quoted to us the proverb of
Solomon, "He is a tree of life to all them that do his will."
31 He confirmed the words of Ezekiel,
"Shall these dry bones live?" For he forgat not the song that Moses
taught, which teaches, "I will slay and I will make alive. This is your
life and the blessedness of your days."'
32 Ah, cruel was the day, and yet not
cruel, when the cruel tyrant of the Greeks set the fire blazing for his
barbarous braziers, and with his passions boiling brought to the catapult and
back again to his tortures the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham, and
blinded the eyeballs of their eyes, and cut out their tongues, and slew them
with many kinds of torment.
33 For which cause the judgement of
God pursued, and shall pursue, the accursed wretch.
34 But the sons of Abraham, with
their victorious mother, are gathered together unto the place of their ancestors,
having received pure and immortal souls from God, to whom be glory for ever and
ever.
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