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 Chapter 1
1:1 As I am going to demonstrate a most philosophical
proposition, namely, that religious reasoning is absolute master of the
passions, I would willingly advise you to give the utmost heed to philosophy.
2 For reason is necessary to every one as a step to
science: and more especially does it embrace the praise of prudence, the highest
virtue.
3 If, then, reasoning appears to hold the mastery over
the passions which stand in the way of temperance, such as gluttony and lust,
4 it surely also and manifestly has the rule over the
affections which are contrary to justice, such as malice; and of those which are
hindrances to manliness, as wrath, and pain, and fear. 5
How, then, is it, perhaps some may say, that reasoning, if it rule the
affections, is not also master of forgetfulness and ignorance? They attempt a
ridiculous argument. 6 For reasoning does not rule over
its own affections, but over such as are contrary to justice, and manliness and
temperance, and prudence; and yet over these, so as to withstand, without
destroying them.
7 I might prove to you, from may other considerations,
that religious reasoning is sole master of the passions; 8
but I shall prove it with the greatest force from the fortitude of Eleazar, and
seven brethren, and their mother, who suffered death in defence of virtue.
9 For all these, contemning pains even unto death, by this
contempt, demonstrated that reasoning has command over the passions.
10 For their virtues, then, it is right that I should
commend those men who died with their mother at this time in behalf of
rectitude; and for their honours, I may count them happy. 11
For they, winning admiration not only from men in general, but even from the
persecutors, for their manliness and endurance, became the means of the
destruction of the tyranny against their nation, having conquered the tyrant by
their endurance, so that by them their country was purified.
12 But we may now at once enter upon the question,
having commenced, as is our wont, with laying down the doctrine, and so proceed
to the account of these persons, giving glory to the all wise God.
13 The question, therefore, is, whether reasoning be
absolute master of the passions. 14 Let us determine,
then, What is reasoning? and what passion? and how many forms of the passions?
and whether reasoning bears sway over all of these?
15 Reasoning is, then, intellect accompanied by a life
of rectitude, putting foremost the consideration of wisdom. 16
And wisdom is a knowledge of divine and human things, and of their causes.
17 And this is contained in the education of the law; by
means of which we learn divine things reverently, and human things profitably.
18 And the forms of wisdom are prudence, and justice,
and manliness, and temperance.19 The leading one of these
is prudence; by whose means, indeed, it is that reasoning bears rule over the
passions. 20 Of the passions, pleasure and pain are the
two most comprehensive; and they also by nature refer to the soul.
21 And there are many attendant affections surrounding
pleasure and pain. 22 Before pleasure is lust; and after
pleasure, joy. 23 And before pain is fear; and after pain
is sorrow.
24 Wrath is an affection, common to pleasure and to
pain, if any one will pay attention when it comes upon him. 25
And there exists in pleasure a malicious disposition, which is the most
multiform of all the affections. 26 In the soul it is
arrogance, and love of money, and vaingloriousness, and contention, and
faithlessness, and the evil eye. 27 In the body it is
greediness and gormandizing, and solitary gluttony.
28 As pleasure and pain are, therefore, two growth of
the body and the soul, so there are many offshoots of these passions.
29 And reasoning, the universal husbandman, purging, and
pruning these severally, and binding round, and watering, and transplanting, in
every way improves the materials of the morals and affections. 30
For reasoning is the leader of the virtues, but it is the sole ruler of the
passions. Observe then first, through the very things which stand in the way of
temperance, that reasoning is absolute ruler of the passions.
31 Now temperance consists of a command over the lusts.
32 But of the lusts, some belong to the soul, others to
the body: and over each of these classes the reasoning appears to bear sway.
33 For whence is it, otherwise, that when urged on to
forbidden meats, we reject the gratification which would ensue from them? Is it
not because reasoning is able to command the appetites? I believe so.
34 Hence it is, then, that when lusting after
water-animals and birds, and fourfooted beasts, and all kinds of food which are
forbidden us by the law, we withhold ourselves through the mastery of reasoning.
35 For the affections of our appetites are resisted by the
temperate understanding, and bent back again, and all the impulses of the body
are reined in by reasoning.
Chapter 2
2:1 And what wonder? if the lusts of the soul, after
participation with what is beautiful, are frustrated, 2 on
this ground, therefore, the temperate Joseph is praised in that by reasoning, he
subdued, on reflection, the indulgence of sense. 3 For,
although young, and ripe for sexual intercourse, he abrogated by reasoning the
stimulus of his passions.
4 And it is not merely the stimulus of sensual
indulgence, but that of every desire, that reasoning is able to master.
5 For instance, the law says, Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour's wife, nor anything that belongs to thy neighbour. 6
Now, then, since it is the law which has forbidden us to desire, I shall much
the more easily persuade you, that reasoning is able to govern our lusts, just
as it does the affections which are impediments to justice. 7
Since in what way is a solitary eater, and a glutton, and a drunkard reclaimed,
unless it be clear that reasoning is lord of the passions?
8 A man, therefore, who regulates his course by the
law, even if he be a lover of money, straightway puts force upon his own
disposition; lending to the needy without interest, and cancelling the debt of
the incoming sabbath. 9 And should a man be parsimonious,
he is ruled by the law acting through reasoning; so that he does not glean his
harvest crops, nor vintage: and in reference to other points we may perceive
that it is reasoning that conquers his passions.
10 For the law conquers even affection toward parents,
not surrendering virtue on their account. 11 And it
prevails over marriage love, condemning it when transgressing law.
12 And it lords it over the love of parents toward their
children, for they punish them for vice; and it domineers over the intimacy of
friends, reproving them when wicked. 13 And think it not a
strange assertion that reasoning can in behalf of the law conquer even enmity.
14 It alloweth not to cut down the cultivated herbage of
an enemy, but preserveth it from the destroyers, and collecteth their fallen
ruins.
15 And reason appears to be master of the more violent
passions, as love of empire and empty boasting, and slander. 16
For the temperate understanding repels all these malignant passions, as it does
wrath: for it masters even this.
17 Thus Moses, when angered against Dathan and Abiram,
did nothing to them in wrath, but regulated his anger by reasoning.
18 For the temperate mind is able, as I said, to be
superior to the passions, and to transfer some, and destroy others.
19 For why, else, does our most wise father Jacob blame
Simeon and Levi for having irrationally slain the whole race of the Shechemites,
saying, Cursed be their anger. 20 For if reasoning did not
possess the power of subduing angry affections, he would not have spoken thus.
21 For at the time when God created man, He implanted
within him his passions and moral nature. 22 And at that
time He enthroned above all the holy leader mind, through the medium of the
senses. 23 And He gave a law to this mind, by living
according to which it will maintain a temperate, and just, and good, and manly
reign. 24 How, then, a man may say, if reasoning be master
of the passions, has it no control over forgetfulness and ignorance?
Chapter 3
3:1 The argument is exceedingly ridiculous: for
reasoning does not appear to bear sway over its own affections, but over those
of the body, 2 in such a way as that any one of you may
not be able to root out desire, but reasoning will enable you to avoid being
enslaved to it.
3 One may not be able to root out anger from the soul,
but it is possible to withstand anger. 4 Any one of you
may not be able to eradicate malice, but reasoning has force to work with you to
prevent you yielding to malice. 5 For reasoning is not an
eradicator, but an antagonist of the passions. 6 And this
may be more clearly comprehended from the thirst of king David. 7
For after David had been attacking the Philistines the whole day, he with the
soldiers of his nation slew many of them; 8 then when
evening came, sweating and very weary, he came to the royal tent, about which
the entire host of our ancestors was encamped.
9 Now all the rest of them were at supper;
10 but the king, being very much athirst, although he had
numerous springs, could not by their means quench his thirst; 11
but a certain irrational longing for the water in the enemy's camp grew stronger
and fiercer upon him, and consumed him with languish.
12 Wherefore his body-guards being troubled at this
longing of the king, two valiant young soldiers, reverencing the desire of the
king, put on their panoplies, and taking a pitcher, got over the ramparts of the
enemies: 13 and unperceived by the guardians of the gate,
they went throughout the whole camp of the enemy in quest. 14
And having boldly discovered the fountain, they filled out of it the draught for
the king.
15 But he, though parched with thirst, reasoned that a
draught reputed of equal value to blood, would be terribly dangerous to his
soul. 16 Wherefore, setting up reasoning in opposition to
his desire, he poured out the draught to God. 17 For the
temperate mind has power to conquer the pressure of the passions, and to quench
the fires of excitement, 18 and to wrestle down the pains
of the body, however excessive; and, through the excellency of reasoning, to
abominate all the assaults of the passions.
19 But the occasion now invites us to give an
illustration of temperate reasoning from history. 20 For
at a time when our fathers were in possession of undisturbed peace through
obedience to the law, and were prosperous, so that Seleucus Nicanor, the king of
Asia, both assigned them money for divine service, and accepted their form of
government, 21 then certain persons, bringing in new
things contrary to the general unanimity, in various ways fell into calamities.
Chapter 4
4:1 For a certain man named Simon, who was in
opposition to Onias, who once held the high priesthood for life, and was an
honourable and good man, after that by slandering him in every way, he could not
injure him with the people, went away as an exile, with the intention of
betraying his country.
2 Whence coming to Apollonius, the military governor of
Syria, and Phoenicia, and Cilicia, he said, 3 Having good
will to the king's affairs, I am come to inform thee that infinite private
wealth is laid up in the treasuries of Jerusalem which do not belong to the
temple, but pertain to king Seleucus.
4 Apollonius, acquainting himself with the particulars
of this, praised Simon for his care of the king's interests, and going up to
Seleucus informed him of the treasure; 5 and getting
authority about it, and quickly advancing into our country with the accursed
Simon and a very heavy force, 6 he said that he came with
the commands of the king that he should take the private money of the treasure.
7 And the nation, indignant at this proclamation, and
replying to the effect that it was extremely unfair that those who had committed
deposits to the sacred treasury should be deprived of them, resisted as well as
they could. 8 But Appolonius went away with threats into
the temple.
9 And the priests, with the women and children, having
supplicated God to throw his shield over the holy, despised place,
10 and Appolonius going up with his armed force to the
seizure of the treasure,--there appeared from heaven angels riding on horseback,
all radiant in armour, filling them with much fear and trembling.
11 And Apollonius fell half dead upon the court which is open to all
nations, and extended his hands to heaven, and implored the Hebrews, with tears,
to pray for him, and propitiate the heavenly host. 12 For
he said that he had sinned, so as to be consequently worthy of death; and that
if he were saved, he would celebrate to all men the blessedness of the holy
place.
13 Onias the high priest, induced by these words,
although for other reasons anxious that king Seleucus should not suppose that
Apollonius was slain by human device and not by Divine punishment, prayed for
him; 14 and he being thus unexpectedly saved, departed to
manifest to the king what had happened to him. 15 But on
the death of Seleucus the king, his son Antiochus Epiphanes succeeds to the
kingdom: a man of haughty pride and terrible. 16 Who
having deposed Onias from the high priesthood, appointed his brother Jason to be
high priest: 17 who had made a covenant, if he would give
him this authority, to pay yearly three thousand six hundred and sixty talents.
18 And he committed to him the high priesthood and
rulership over the nation. 19 And he both changed the
manner of living of the people, and perverted their civil customs into all
lawlessness. 20 So that he not only erected a gymnasium on
the very citadel of our country, [but neglected] the guardianship of the temple.
21 At which Divine vengeance being grieved, instigated
Antiochus himself against them. 22 For being at war with
Ptolemy in Egypt, he heard that on a report of his death being spread abroad,
the inhabitants of Jerusalem had exceedingly rejoiced, and he quickly marched
against them. 23 And having subdued them, he established a
decree that if any of them lived according to the laws of his country he should
die.
24 And when he could by no means destroy by his decrees
the obedience to the law of the nation, but saw all his threats and punishments
without effect, 25 for even women, because they continued
to circumcise their children, were flung down a precipice along with them,
knowing beforehand of the punishment. 26 When, therefore,
his decrees were disregarded by the people, he himself compelled by means of
tortures every one of this race, by tasting forbidden meats, to abjure the
Jewish religion.
Chapter 5
1:1 The tyrant Antiochus, therefore, sitting in public
state with his assessors upon a certain lofty place, with his armed troops
standing in a circle around him, commanded his spearbearers to seize every one
of the Hebrews, and to compel them to taste swine's flesh, and things offered to
idols. 2 3 And should any of them be unwilling to eat the
accursed food, they were to be tortured on the wheel, and so killed.
4 And when many had been seized, a foremost man of the
assembly, a Hebrew, by name Eleazar, a priest by family, by profession a lawyer,
and advanced in years, and for this reason known to many of the king's
followers, was brought near to him.
5 And Antiochus seeing him, said, 6
I would counsel thee, old man, before thy tortures begin, to tasted the swine's
flesh, and save your life; for I feel respect for your age and hoary head, which
since you have had so long, you appear to me to be no philosopher in retaining
the superstition of the Jews. 7 For wherefore, since
nature has conferred upon you the most excellent flesh of this animal, do you
loathe it? 8 It seems senseless not to enjoy what is
pleasant, yet not disgraceful; and from notions of sinfulness, to reject the
boons of nature.
9 And you will be acting, I think, still more
senselessly, if you follow vain conceits about the truth. 10
And you will, moreover, be despising me to your own punishment.
11 Will you not awake from your trifling philosophy? and give up the
folly of your notions; and, regaining understanding worthy of your age, search
into the truth of an expedient course? 12 and, reverencing
my kindly admonition, have pity upon your own years? 13
For, bear in mind, that if there be any power which watches over this religion
of yours, it will pardon you for all transgressions of the law which you commit
through compulsion.
14 While the tyrant incited him in this manner to the
unlawful eating of flesh, Eleazar begged permission to speak. 15
And having received power to speak, he began thus to deliver himself:
16 We, O Antiochus, who are persuaded that we live under a
divine law, consider no compulsion to be so forcible as obedience to that law;
17 wherefore we consider that we ought not in any point to
transgress the law. 18 And indeed, were our law (as you
suppose) not truly divine, and if we wrongly think it divine, we should have no
right even in that case to destroy our sense of religion. 19
think not eating the unclean, then, a trifling offense. 20
For transgression of the law, whether in small or great matters, is of equal
moment; 21 for in either case the law is equally slighted.
22 But thou deridest our philosophy, as though we lived
irrationally in it. 23 Yet it instructs us in temperance,
so that we are superior to all pleasures and lusts; and it exercises us in
manliness, so that we cheerfully undergo every grievance. 24
And it instructs us in justice, so that in all our dealoings we render what is
due; and it teaches us piety, so that we worship the one only God becomingly.
25 Wherefore it is that we eat not the unclean; for
believing that the law was established by God, we are convinced that the Creator
of the world, in giving his laws, sympathises with our nature. 26
Those things which are convenient to our souls, he has directed us to eat; but
those which are repugnant to them, he has interdicted.
27 But, tyrant-like, thou not only forcest us to break
the law, but also to eat, that thou mayest ridicule us as we thus profanely eat:
28 but thou shalt not have this cause of laughter against
me; 29 nor will I transgress the sacred oaths of my
forefathers to keep the law. 30 No, not if you pluck out
my eyes, and consume my entrails. 31 I am not so old, and
void of manliness, but that my rational powers are youthful in defence of my
religion.
32 Now then; prepare your wheels, and kindle a fiercer
flame. 33 I will not so compassionate my old age, as on my
account to break the law of my country. 34 I will not
belie thee, O law, my instructor! or forsake thee, O beloved self-control!
35 I will not put thee to shame, O philosopher Reason; or
deny thee, O honoured priesthood, and science of the law. 36
Mouth! thou shalt not pollute my old age, nor the full stature of a perfect
life.
37 My fathers shall receive me pure, not having quailed
before your compulsion, though unto death. 38 For over the
ungodly thou shalt tyrannize; but thou shalt not lord it over my thoughts about
religion, either by thine arguments, or through deeds.
Chapter 6
6:1 When Eleazar had in this manner answered the
exhortations of the tyrant, the spearbearers came up, and rudely haled Eleazar
to the instruments of torture. 2 And first, they stripped
the old man, adorned as he was with the comeliness of piety. 3
Then tying back his arms and hands, they disdainfully used him with stripes;
4 a herald opposite crying out, Obey the commands of the
king.
5 But Eleazar, the high-minded and truly noble, as one
tortured in a dream, regarded it not all. 6 But raising
his eyes on high to heaven, the old man's flesh was stripped off by the
scourges, and his blood streamed down, and his sides were pierced through.
7 And falling upon the ground, from his body having no
power to support the pains, he yet kept his reasoning upright and unbending.
8 then one of the harsh spearbearers leaped upon his belly
as he was falling, to force him upright.
9 But he endured the pains, and despised the cruelty,
and persevered through the indignities; 10 and like a
noble athlete, the old man, when struck, vanquished his torturers.
11 His countenance sweating, and he panting for breath, he
was admired by the very torturers for his courage.
12 Wherefore, partly in pity for his old age,
13 partly from the sympathy of acquaintance, and partly in
admiration of his endurance, some of the attendants of the king said, Why do you
unreasonably destroy yourself, O Eleazar, with these miseries? 15
We will bring you some meat cooked by yourself, and do you save yourself by
pretending that you have eaten swine's flesh.
16 And Eleazar, as though the advice more painfully
tortured him, cried out, 17 Let not us who are children of
Abraham be so evil advised as by giving way to make use of an unbecoming
pretence; 18 for it were irrational, if having lived up to
old age in all truth, and having scrupulously guarded our character for it, we
should now turn back, 19 and ourselves should become a
pattern of impiety to the young, as being an example of pollution eating.
20 It would be disgraceful if we should live on some short
time, and that scorned by all men for cowardice, 21 and be
condemned by the tyrant for unmanliness, by not contending to the death for our
divine law. 22 Wherefore do you, O children of Abraham,
die nobly for your religion. 23 Ye spearbearers of the
tyrant, why do ye linger?
24 Beholding him so high-minded against misery, and not
changing at their pity, they led him to the fire: 25 then
with their wickedly-contrived instruments they burnt him on the fire, and poured
stinking fluids down into his nostrils.
26 And he being at length burnt down to the bones, and
about to expire, raised his eyes Godward, and said, 27
Thou knowest, O God, that when I might have been saved, I am slain for the sake
of the law by tortures of fire. 28 Be merciful to thy
people, and be satisfied with the punishment of me on their account.
29 Let my blood be a purification for them, and take my
life in recompense for theirs. 30 Thus speaking, the holy
man departed, noble in his torments, and even to the agonies of death resisted
in his reasoning for the sake of the law.
31 Confessedly, therefore, religious reasoning is
master of the passions. 32 For had the passions been
superior to reasoning, I would have given them the witness of this mastery.
33 But now, since reasoning conquered the passions, we
befittingly awared it the authority of first place.
34 And it is but fair that we should allow, that the
power belongs to reasoning, since it masters external miseries.
35 Ridiculous would it be were it not so; and I prove that reasoning has
not only mastered pains, but that it is also superior to the pleasures, and
withstands them.
Chapter 7
7:1 The reasoning of our father Eleazar, like a
first-rate pilot, steering the vessel of piety in the sea of passions,
2 and flouted by the threats of the tyrant, and
overwhelmed with the breakers of torture, 3 in no way
shifted the rudder of piety till it sailed into the harbour of victory over
death.
4 Not so has ever a city, when besieged, held out
against many and various machines, as did that holy man, when his pious soul was
tried with the fiery trial of tortures and rackings, move his besiegers through
the religious reasoning that shielded him. 5 For father
Eleazar, projecting his disposition, broke the raging wabves of the passions as
with a jutting promontory. 6 O priest worthy of the
priesthood! thou didst not pollute thy sacred teeth; nor make thine appetite,
which had always embraced the clean and lawful, a partaker of profanity.
7 O harmonizer with the law, and sage devoted to a divine
life! 8 Of such a character ought those to be who perform
the duties of the law at the risk of their own blood, and defend it with
generous sweat by sufferings even unto death.
9 Thou, father, hast gloriously established our right
government by thy endurance; and making of much account our service past,
prevented its destruction, and, by thy deeds, hast made credible the words of
philosophy. 10 O aged man of more power than tortures,
elder more vigorous than fire, greatest king over the passions, Eleazar!
11 For as father Aaron, armed with a censer, hastening
through the consuming fire, vanquished the flame-bearing angel,
12 so, Eleazar, the descendant of Aaron, wasted away by the fire, did not
give up his reasoning. 13 And, what is most wonderful,
though an old man, though the labours of his body were now spent, and his fibres
were relaxed, and his sinews worn out, he recovered youth. 14
By the spirit of reasoning, and the reasoning of Isaac, he rendered powerless
the many-headed instrument. 15 O blessed old age, and
reverend hoar head, and life obedient to the law, which the faithful seal of
death perfected. 16 0 If, then, an old man, through
religion, despised tortures even unto death, confessedly religious reasoning is
ruler of the passions.
17 But perhaps some might say, It is not all who
conquer passions, as all do not possess wise reasoning. 18
But they who have meditated upon religion with their whole heart, these alone
can master the passions of the flesh; 19 they who believe
that to God they die not; for, as our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they
live to God.
20 This circumstance, then, is by no means an
objection, that some who have weak reasoning, are governed by their passions:
21 since what person, walking religiously by the whole
rule of philosophy, and believing in God, 22 and knowing
that it is a blessed thing to endure all kinds of hardships for virture, would
not, for the sake of religion, master his passion? 23 For
the wise and brave man only is lord over his passions. 24
Whence it is, that even boys, imbued with the philosophy of religious reasoning,
have conquered still more bitter tortures: 25 for when the
tyrant was manifestly vanquished in his first attempt, in being unable to force
the old man to eat the unclean thing,-
Chapter 8
8:1 Then, indeed, vehemently swayed with passion, he
commanded to bring others of the adult Hebrews, and if they would eat of the
unclean thing, to let them go when they had eaten; but if they objected, to
torment them more grievously.
2 The tyrant having given this charge, seven brethren
were brought into his presence, along with their aged mother, handsome, and
modest, and well-born, and altogether comely. 3 Whom, when
the tyrant beheld, encircling their mother as in a dance, he was pleased at
them; and being struck with their becoming and ingenuous mien, smiled upon them,
and calling them near, said:
4 O youths, with favourable feelings, I admire the
beauty of each of you; and greatly honouring so numerous a band of brethren, I
not only counsel you not to share the madness of the old man who has been
tortured before, 5 but I do beg you to yield, and to enjoy
my friendship; for I possess the power, not only of punishing those who disobey
my commands, but of doing good to those who obey them.
6 Put confidence in me, then, and you shall receive
places of authority in my government, if you forsake your national ordinance,
7 and, conforming to the Greek mode of life, alter your
rule, and revel in youth's delights. 8 For if you provoke
me by your disobedience, you will compel me to destroy you, every one, with
terrible punishments by tortures. 9 Have mercy, then, upon
your own selves, whom I, although an enemy, compassionate for your age and
comeliness. 10 Will you not reason upon this--that if you
disobey, there will be nothing left for you but to die in tortures?
11 Thus speaking, he ordered the instruments of torture
to be brought forward, that very fear might prevail upon them to eat unclean
meat. 12 And when the spearman brought forward the wheels,
and the racks, and the hooks, and catapeltae, and caldrons, pans, and
finger-racks, and iron hands and wedges, and bellows, the tyrant continue:
13 Fear, young men, and the righteousness which ye worship
will be merciful to you if you err from compulsion. 14
Now they having listened to these words of persuasion, and seeing the fearful
instruments, not only were not afraid, but even answered the arguments of the
tyrant, and through their good reasoning destroyed his power.
15 Now let us consider the matter: had any of them been
weak-spirited and cowardly among them, what reasonings would they have employed
but these? 16 O wretched that we are, and exceeding
senseless! when the king exhorts us, and calls us to his bounty, should we not
obey him? 17 Why do we cheer ourselves with vain counsels,
and venture upon a disobedience bringing death?
18 Shall we not fear, O brethren, the instruments of
torture and weigh the threatenings of torment and shun this vain-glory and
destructive pride? 19 Let us have compassion upon our age
and relent over the years of our mother. 20 And let us
bear in mind that we shall be dying as rebels. 21 And
Divine Justice will pardon us if we fear the king through necessity.
22 Why withdraw ourselves from a most sweet life, and
deprive ourselves of this pleasant world? 23 Let us not
oppose necessity, nor seek vain-glory by our own excruciation. 24
The law itself is not forward to put us to death, if we dread torture.
25 Whence has such angry zeal taken root in us, and such
fatal obstinacy approved itself to us, when we might live unmolested by the
king?
26 But nothing of this kind did the young men say or
think when about to be tortured. 27 For they were well
aware of the sufferings, and masters of the pains. So that as soon as the tyrant
had ceased counselling them to eat the unclean, they altogether with one voice,
as from the same heart said:
Chapter 9
9:1 Why delayest thou, O tyrant? for we are readier to
die than to transgress the injunctions of our fathers. 2
And we should be disgracing our fathers if we did not obey the law, and take
knowledge for our guide.
3 O tyrant, counsellor of law-breaking, do not, hating
us as thou dost, pity us more than we pity ourselves. 4
For we account escape to be worse than death. 5 And you
think to scare us, by threatening us with death by tortures, as though thou
hadst learned nothing by the death of Eleazar. 6 But if
aged men of the Hebrews have died in the cause of religion after enduring
torture, more rightly should we younger men die, scorning your cruel tortures,
which our aged instructor overcame.
7 Make the attempt, then, O tyrant; and if thou puttest
us to death for our religion, think not that thou harmest us by torturing us.
8 For we through this ill-treatment and endurance shall
bear off the rewards of virtue. 9 But thou, for the wicked
and despotic slaughter of us, shalt, from the Divine vengeance, endure eternal
torture by fire.
10 When they had thus spoken, the tyrant was not only
exasperated against them as being refractory, but enraged with them as being
ungrateful. 11 So that, at his bidding, the torturers
brought forth the eldest of them, and tearing through his tunic, bound his hands
and arms on each side with thongs. 12 And when they had
laboured hard without effect in scourging him, they hurled him upon the wheel.
13 And the noble youth, extended upon this, became
dislocated. 14 And with every member disjointed, he
exclaimed in expostulation,
15 O most accursed tyrant, and enemy of heavenly
justice, and cruel-hearted, I am no murderer, nor sacrilegious man, whom thou
thus ill-usest; but a defender of the Divine law. 16 And
when the spearmen said, Consent to eat, that you may be releasted from your
tortures,-- 17 he answered, Not so powerful, O accursed
ministers, is your wheel, as to stifle my reasoning; cut my limbs, and burn my
flesh, and twist my joints. 18 For through all my torments
I will convince you that the children of the Hebrews are alone unconquered in
behalf of virtue.
19 While he was saying this, they heaped up fuel, and
setting fire to it, strained him upon the wheel still more. 20
And the wheel was defiled all over with blood, and the hot ashes were quenched
by the droppings of gore, and pieces of flesh were scattered about the axles of
the machine.
21 And although the framework of his bones was now
destroyed the high-minded and Abrahamic youth did not groan. 22
But, as though transformed by fire into immortality, he nobly endured the
rackings, saying 23 Imitate me, O brethren, nor ever
desert your station, nor abjure my brotherhood in courage: fight the holy and
honourable fight of religion; 24 by which means our just
and paternal Providence, becoming merciful to the nation, will punish the
pestilent tyrant. 25 And saying this, the revered youth
abruptly closed his life.
26 And when all admired his courageous soul, the
spearmen brought forward him who was second in point of age, and having put on
iron hands, bound him with pointed hooks to the catapelt. 27
And when, on enquiring whether he would eat before he was tortured, they heard
his noble sentiment, 28 after they with the iron hands had
violently dragged all the flesh from the neck to the chin, the panther-like
beasts tore off the very skin of his head: but he, bearing with firmness this
misery, said, 29 How sweet is every form of death for the
religion of our fathers! and he said to the tyrant,
30 Thinkest thou not, most cruel of all tyrants, that
thou art now tortured more than I, finding thine overweening conception of
tyranny conquered by our patience in behalf of our religion? 31
For I lighten my suffering by the pleasures which are connected with virtue.
32 But thou art tortured with threatenings for impiety;
and thou shalt not escape, most corrupt tyrant, the vengeance of Divine wrath.
Chapter 10
10:1 Now this one, having endured this praiseworthy
death, the third was brought along, and exhorted by many to taste and save his
life. 2 But he cried out and said, Know ye not, that the
father of those who are dead, begat me also; and that the same mother bare me;
and that I was brought up in the same tenets? 3 I abjure
not the noble relationship of my brethren. 4 Now then,
whatever instrument of vengeance ye have, apply it to my body, for ye are not
able to touch, even if ye wish it, my soul.
5 But they, highly incensed at his boldness of speech,
dislocated his hands and feet with racking engines, and wrenching them from
their sockets, dismembered him. 6 And they dragged round
his fingers, and his arms, and his legs, and his ankles. 7
And not being able by any means to strangle him, they tore off his skin,
together with the extreme tips of his fingers, flayed him, and then haled him to
the wheel; 8 around which his vertebral joints were
loosened, and he saw his own flesh torn to shreds, and streams of blood flowing
from his entrails. 9 And when about to die, he said,
10 We, O accursed tyrant, suffer this for the sake of
Divine education and virtue. 11 But thou, for thine
impiety and blood-shedding, shalt endure indissoluble torments.
12 And thus having died worthily of his brethren, they
dragged forward the fourth, saying, 13 Do not thou share
the madness of thy brethren: but give regard to the king, and save thyself.
14 But he said to them, You have not a fire so scorching
as to make me play the coward. 15 By the blessed death of
my brethren, and the eternal punishment of the tyrant, and the glorious life of
the pious, I will not repudiate the noble brotherhood. 16
Invent, O tyrant, tortures; that you may learn, even through them, that I am the
brother of those tormented before.
17 When he had said this, the blood-thirsty, and
murderous, and unhallowed Antiochus ordered his tongue to be cut out.
18 But he said, Even if you take away the organ of speech,
yet God hears the silent. 19 Behold, my tongue is
extended, cut it off; for not for that halt thou extirpate our reasoning.
20 Gladly do we lose our limbs in behalf of God.
21 But God shall speedly find you, since you cut off the
tongue, the instrument of divine melody.
Chapter 11
11:1 And when he had died, disfigured in his torments,
the fifth leaped forward,
and said,
2 I intend not, O tyrant, to get excused from the
torment which is in behalf of virtue. 3 But I have come of
mine own accord, that by the death of me, you may owe heavenly vengeance a
punishment for more crimes. 4 O thou hater of virtue and
of men, what have we done that thou thus revellest in our blood?
5 Does it seem evil to thee that we worship the Founder of all things,
and live according to his surpassing law? 6 But this is
worthy of honours, not torments; 7 hadst thou been capable
of the higher feelings of men, and possessed the hope of salvation from God.
8 Behold now, being alien from God, thou makest war
against those who are religious toward God.
9 As he said this, the spearbearers bound him, and drew
him to the catapelt: 10 to which binding him at his knees,
and fastening them with iron fetters, they bent down his loins upon the wedge of
the wheel; and his body was then dismembered, scorpion-fashion.
11 With his breath thus confined, and his body strangled, he said,
12 A great favour thou bestowest upon us, O tyrant, by
enabling us to manifest our adherence to the law by means of nobler sufferings.
13 He also being dead, the sixth, quite a youth, was
brought out; and on the tyrant asking him whether he would eat and be delivered,
he said,
14 I am indeed younger than my brothers, but in
understanding I am am as old; 15 for having been born and
reared unto the same end, we are bound to die also in behalf of the same cause.
16 So that if ye think proper to torment us for not eating
the unclean;--torment!
17 As he said this, they brought him to the wheel.
18 Extended upon which, with limbs racked and dislocated,
he was gradually roasted from beneath. 19 And having
heated sharp spits, they approached them to his back; and having transfixed his
sides, they burned away his entrails.
20 And he, while tormented, said, O period good and
holy, in which, for the sake of religion, we brethren have been called to the
contest of pain, and have not been conquered. 21 For
religious understanding, O tyrant, is unconquered. 22
Armed with upright virtue, I also shall depart with my brethren.
23 I, too, bearing with me a great avenger, O deviser of tortures, and
enemy of the truly pious.
24 We six youths have destroyed thy tyranny.
25 For is not your inability to overrule our reasoning,
and to compel us to eat the unclean, thy destruction? 26
Your fire is cold to us, your catapelts are painless, and your violence
harmless. 27 For the guards not of a tyrant but of a
divine law are our defenders: through this we keep our reasoning unconquered.
Chapter 12
12:1 When he, too, had undergone blessed martyrdom, and
died in the caldron into which he had been thrown, the seventh, the youngest of
all, came forward: 2 whom the tyrant pitying, though he
had been dreadfully reproached by his brethren, 3 seeing
him already encompassed with chains, had him brought nearer, and endeavoured to
counsel him, saying,
4 Thou seest the end of the madness of thy brethren:
for they have died to torture through disobedience; and you, if disobedient,
having been miserably tormented, will yourself perish prematurely.
5 But if you obey, you shall be my friend, and have a
charge over the affairs of the kingdom.
6 And having thus exhorted him, he sent for the mother
of the boy; that, by condoling with her for the loss of so many sons, he might
incline her, through the hope of safety, to render the survivor obedient.
7 And he, after his mother had urged him on in the Hebrew
tongue, (as we shall soon relate) saith, 8 Release me
that I may speak to the king and all his friends. 9 And
they, rejoicing exceedingly at the promise of the youth, quickly let him go.
10 And he, running up to the pans, said,
11 Impious tyrant, and most blasphemous man, wert thou not ashamed,
having received prosperity and a kingdom from God, to slay His servants, and to
rack the doers of godliness? 12 Wherefore the divine
vengeance is reserving thee for eternal fire and torments, which shall cling to
thee for all time.
13 Wert thou not ashamed, man as thou art, yet most
savage, to cut out the tongues of men of like feeling and origin, and having
thus abused to torture them? 14 But they, bravely dying,
fulfilled their religion towards God. 15 But thou shalt
groan according to thy deserts for having slain without cause the champions of
virtue.
16 Wherefore, he continued, I myself, being about to
die, 17 will not forsake my brethren. 18
And I call upon the God of my fathers to be merciful to my race.
19 But thee, both living and dead, he will punish.
20 Thus having prayed, he hurled himself into the pans;
and so expired.
Chapter 13
13:1 If then, the seven brethren despised troubles even
unto death, it is confessed on all sides that righteous reasoning is absolute
master over the passions. 2 For just as if, had they as
slaves to the passions, eaten of the unholy, we should have said that they had
been conquered by the; 3 now it is not so: but by means of
the reasoning which is praised by God, they mastered their passions.
4 And it is impossible to overlook the leadership of
reflection: for it gained the victory over both passions and troubles.
5 How, then, can we avoid according to these men mastery
of passion through right reasoning, since they drew not back from the pains of
fire? 6 For just as by means of towers projecting in front
of harbours men break the threatening waves, and thus assure a still course to
vessels entering port, 7 so that seven-towered
right-reasoning of the young men, securing the harbour of religion, conquered
the intermperance of passions.
8 For having arranged a holy choir of piety, they
encouraged one another, saying, 9 Brothers, may we die
brotherly for the law. Let us imitate the three young men in Assyria who
despised the equally afflicting furnace. 10 Let us not be
cowards in the manifestation of piety. 11 And one said,
Courage, brother; and another, Nobly endure. 12 And
another, Remember of what stock ye are; and by the hand of our father Isaac
endured to be slain for the sake of piety.
13 And one and all, looking on each other serene and
confident, said, Let us sacrifice with all our heart our souls to God who gave
them, and employ our bodies for the keeping of the law. 14
Let us not fear him who thinketh he killeth; 15 for great
is the trial of soul and danger of eternal torment laid up for those who
transgress the commandment of God. 16 Let us arm
ourselves, therefore, in the abnegation of the divine reasoning.
17 If we suffer thus, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob will receive us, and
all the fathers will commend us. 18 And as each one of the
brethren was haled away, the rest exclaimed, Disgrace us not, O brother, nor
falsify those who died before you.
19 Now you are not ignorant of the charm of
brotherhood, which the Divine and all wise Providence hath imparted through
fathers to children, and hath engendered through the mother's womb.
20 In which these brothers having remained an equal time,
and having been formed for the same period, and been increased by the same
blood, and having been perfected through the same principle of life,
21 and having been brought forth at equal intervals, and
having sucked milk from the same fountains, hence their brotherly souls are
reared up lovingly together; 22 and increase the more
powerfully by reason of this simultaneous rearing, and by daily intercourse, and
by other education, and exercise in the law of God.
23 Brotherly love being thus sympathetically
constituted, the seven brethren had a more sympathetic mutual harmony.
24 For being educated in the same law, and practising the
same virtues, and reared up in a just course of life, they increased this
harmony with each other. 25 For a like ardour for what is
right and honourable increased their fellow-feeling towards each other.
26 For it acting along with religion, made their brotherly
feeling more desirable to them.
27 And yet, although nature and intercourse and
virtuous morals increased their brotherly love those who were left endured to
behold their brethren, who were illused for their religion, tortured even unto
death.
Chapter 14
14:1 And more that this, they even urged them on to
this ill-treatment; so that they not only despised pains themselves, but they
even got the better of their affections of brotherly love.
2 O reasonings more royal than a king, and freer than
freemen! 3 Sacred and harmonius concert of the seven
brethern as concerning piety! 4 None of the seven youths
turned cowardly, or shrank back from death. 5 But all of
them, as though running the road to immortality, hastened on to death through
tortures. 6 For just as hands and feet are moved
sympathetically with the directions of the soul, so those holy youths agreed
unto death for religion's sake, as through the immortal soul of religion.
7 O holy seven of harmonious brethren! for as the seven
days of creation, about religion, 8 so the youths,
circling around the number seven, annulled the fear of torments.
9 We now shudder at the recital of the affliction of those young men; but
they not only beheld, and not only heard the immediate execution of the threat,
but undergoing it, persevered; and that through the pains of fire.
10 And what could be more painful? for the power of fire,
being sharp and quick, speedily dissolved their bodies.
11 And think it not wonderful that reasoning bore rule
over those men in their torments, when even a woman's mind despised more
manifold pains. 12 For the mother of those seven youths
endured the rackings of each of her children.
13 And consider how comprehensive is the love of
offspring, which draws every one to sympathy of affection, 14
where irrational animals possess a similar sympathy and love for their offspring
with men. 15 The tame birds frequenting the roofs of our
houses, defend their fledglings. 16 Others build their
nests, and hatch their young, in the tops of mountains and in the precipices of
valleys, and the holes and tops of trees, and keep off the intruder.
17 And if not able to do this, they fly circling round
them in agony of affection, calling out in their own note, and save their
offspring in whatever manner they are able.
18 But why should we point attention to the sympathy
toward children shewn by irrational animals? 19 The very
bees, at the season of honey-making, attack all who approach; and pierce with
their sting, as with a sword, those who draw near their hive, and repel them
even unto death.
20 But sympathy with her children did not turn aside
the mother of the young men, who had a spirit kindred with that of Abraham.
Chapter 15
15:1 O reasoning of the sons, lord over the passions,
and religion more desirable to a mother than progeny! 2
The mother, when two things were set before here, religion and the safety of
her seven sons for a time, on the conditional promise of a tyrant,
3 rather elected the religion which according to God
preserves to eternal life.
4 O in what way can I describe ethically the affections
of parents toward their children, the resemblance of soul and of form engrafted
into the small type of a child in a wonderful manner, especially through the
greater sympathy of mothers with the feelings of those born of them!
5 for by how much mothers are by nature weak in
disposition and prolific in offspring, by so much the fonder they are of
children. 6 And of all mothers the mother of the seven was
the fondest of children, who in seven childbirths had deeply engendered love
toward them; 7 and through her many pains undergone in
connection with each one, was compelled to feel sympathy with them;
8 yet, through fear of God, who neglected the temporary
salvation of her children.
9 Not but that, on account of the excellent disposition
to the law, her maternal affection toward them was increased. 10
For they were both just and temperate, and manly, and high-minded, and fond of
their brethren, and so fond of their mother that even unto death they obeyed her
by observing the law.
11 And yet, though there were so many circumstances
connected with love of children to draw on a mother to sympathy, in the case of
none of them were the various tortures able to pervert her principle.
12 But she inclined each one separately and all together
to death for religion. 13 O holy nature and parental
feeling, and reward of bringing up children, and unconquerable maternal
affection!
14 At the racking and roasting of each one of them, the
observant mother was prevented by religion from changing. 15
She beheld her children's flesh dissolving around the fire; and their
extremities quivering on the ground, and the flesh of their heads dropped
forwards down to their beards, like masks. 16 O thou
mother, who wast tried at this time with bitterer pangs than those of
parturition! 17 O thou only woman who hast brought forth
perfect holiness! 18 Thy first-born, expiring, turned thee
not; nor the second, looking miserable in his torments; nor the third, breathing
out his soul. 19 Nor when thou didst behold the eyes of
each of them looking sternly upon their tortures, and their nostrils foreboding
death, didst thou weep! 20 When thou didst see children's
flesh heaped upon children's flesh that had been torn off, heads decapitated
upon heads, dead falling upon the dead, and a choir of children turned through
torture into a burying ground, thou lamentedst not.
21 Not so do siren melodies, or songs of swans, attract
the hearers to listening, O voices of children calling upon your mother in the
midst of torments! 22 With what and what manner of
torments was the mother herself tortured, as her sons were undergoing the wheel
and the fires!
23 But religious reasoning, having strengthened her
courage in the midst of sufferings, enabled her to forego, for the time,
parental love. 24 Although beholding the destruction of
seven children, the noble mother, after one embrace, stripped off [her
feelings] through faith in God. 25 For just as in a
council-room, beholding in her own soul vehement counsellors, nature and
parentage and love of her children, and the racking of her children,
26 she holding two votes, one for the death, the other for
the preservation of her children, 27 did not lean to that
which would have saved her children for the safety of a brief space.
28 But this daughter of Abraham remembered his holy
fortitude.
29 O holy mother of a nation avenger of the law, and
defender of religion, and prime bearer in the battle of the affections!
30 O thou nobler in endurance than males, and more manly
than men in patience! 31 For as the ark of Noah, bearing
the world in the world-filling flood, bore up against the waves,
32 so thou, the guardian of the law, when surrounded on every side by the
flood of passions, and straitened by violent storms which were the torments of
they children, didst bear up nobly against the storms against religion.
Chapter 16
16:1 If, then, even a woman, and that an aged one, and
the mother of seven children, endured to see her children's torments even unto
death, confessedly religious reasoning is master even of the passions.
2 I have proved, then, that not only men have obtained
the mastery of their passions, but also that a woman despised the greatest
torments. 3 And not so fierce were the lions round Daniel,
nor the furnace of Misael burning with most vehement fires as that natural love
of children burned within her, when she beheld her seven sons tortured.
4 But with the reasoning of religion the mother quenched
passions so great and powerful.
5 For we must consider also this: that, had the woman
been faint hearted, as being their other, she would have lamented over them; and
perhaps might have spoken thus:
6 Ah! wretched I, and many times miserable; who having
born seven sons, have become the mother of none. 7 O seven
useless childbirths, and seven profitless periods of labour, and fruitless
givings of suck, and miserable nursings at the breast. 8
Vainly, for your sakes, O sons, have I endured many pangs, and the more
difficult anxieties of rearing. 9 Alas, of my children,
some of you unmarried, and some who have married to no profit, I shall not see
your children, nor be felicitated as a grandmother. 10 Ah,
that I who had many and fair children, should be a lone widow full of sorrows!
11 Nor, should I die, shall I have a son to bury me.
But with such a lament is this the holy and God-fearing mother bewailed none
of them. 12 Nor did she divert any of them from death, nor
grieve for them as for the dead. 13 But as one possessed
with an adamantine mind, and as one bringing forth again her full number of
sons to immortality, she rather with supplication exhorted them to death in
behalf of religion.
14 O woman, soldier of God for religion, thou, aged and
a female, hast conquered through endurance even a tyrant; and though but weak,
hast been found more powerful in deeds and words. 15 For
when thou wast seized along with thy children, thou stoodest looking upon
Eleazar in torments, and saidst to thy sons in the Hebrew tongue,
16 O sons, noble is the contest; to which you being
called as a witness for the nation, strive zealously for the laws of your
country. 17 For it were disgraceful that this old man
should endure pains for the sake of righteousness, and that you who are younger
should be afraid of the tortures.
18 Remember that through God ye obtained existence, and
have enjoyed it. 19 And on this second account ye ought to
bear every affliction because of God. 20 For whom also our
father Abraham was forward to sacrifice Isaac our progenitor, and shuddered not
at the sight of his own paternal hand descending down with the sword upon him.
21 And the righteous Daniel was cast unto the lions; and
Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael, were slung out into a furnace of fire; yet
they endured through God. 22 You, then, having the same
faith towards God, be not troubled. 23 For it is
unreasonable that they who know religion should not stand up against troubles.
24 With these arguments, the mother of seven, exhorting
each of her sons, over-persuaded them from transgressing the commandment of God.
25 And they saw this, too, that they who die for God, live
to God; as Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs.
Chapter 17
17:1 And some of the spearbearers said, that when she
herself was about to be seized for the purpose of being put to death, she threw
herself upon the pile, rather than they should touch her person.
2 O thou mother, who together with seven children didst
destroy the violence of the tyrant, and render void his wicked intentions, and
exhibit the nobleness of faith! 3 For thou, as an house
bravely built upon the pillar of thy children, didst bear without swaying, the
shock of tortures.
4 Be of good cheer, therefore, O holy-minded mother!
holding the firm [substance of the] hope of your steadfastness with God.
5 Not so gracious does the moon appear with the stars in
heaven, as thou art established honourable before God, and fixed in the
firmament with thy sons who thou didst illuminate with religion to the stars.
6 For thy bearing of children was after the fashion of a
child of Abraham.
7 And, were it lawful for us to paint as on a tablet
the religion of thy story, the spectators would not shudder at beholding the
mother of seven children enduring for the sake of religion various tortures even
unto death. 8 And it had been a worth thing to have
inscribed upon the tomb itself these words as a memorial to those of the nation,
9 Here an aged priest, and an aged woman, and seven sons,
are buried through the violence of a tyrant, who wished to destroy the polity of
the Hebrews. 10 These also avenged their nation, looking
unto God, and enduring torments unto death.
11 For it was truly a divine contest which was carried
through by them. 12 For at that time virtue presided over
the contest, approving the victory through endurance, namely, immortality,
eternal life. 13 Eleazar was the first to contend: and the
mother of the seven children entered the contest; and the brethren contended.
14 The tyrant was the opposite; and the world and living
men were the spectators. 15 And reverence for God
conquered, and crowned her own athletes.
16 Who did not admire those champions of true
legislation? who were not astonied? 17 The tyrant himself,
and all their council, admired their endurance; 18 through
which, also, they now stand beside the divine throne, and live a blessed life.
19 For Moses saith, And all the saints are under thine
hands.
20 These, therefore, having been sanctified through
God, have been honoured not only with this honour, but that also by their means
the enemy did not overcome our nation; 21 and that the
tyrant was punished, and their country purified. 22 For
they became the atnipoised to the sin of the nation; and the Divine Providence
saved Israel, aforetime afflicted, by the blood of those pious ones, and the
propitiatory death.
23 For the tyrant Antiochus, looking to their manly
virtue, and to their endurance in torture, proclaimed that endurance as an
example to his soldiers. 24 And they proved to be to him
noble and brave for land battles and for sieges; and he conquered and stormed
the towns of all his enemies.
Chapter 18
18:1 O Israelitish children, descendants of the seed of
Abraham, obey this law, and in every way be religious. 2
Knowing that religious reasoning is lord of the passions, and those not only
inward but outward.
3 When those persons giving up their bodies to pains
for the sake of religion, were not only admired by men, but were deemed worthy
of a divine portion. 4 And the nation through them
obtained peace, and having renewed the observance of the law in their country,
drove the enemy out of the land. 5 And the tyrant
Antiochus was both punished upon earth, and is punished now he is dead; for when
he was quite unable to compel the Israelites to adopt foreign customs, and to
desert the manner of life of their fathers, 6 then,
departing from Jerusalem, he made war against the Persians.
7 And the righteous mother of the seven children spake
also as follows to her offspring: I was a pure virgin, and went not beyond my
father's house; but I took care of the built-up rib. 8 No
destroyer of the desert, or ravisher of the plain, injured me; nor did
the destructive, deceitful snake, make spoil of my chaste virginity; and I
remained with my husband during the period of my prime.
9 And these my children, having arrive at maturity,
their father died: blessed was he! for having sought out a life of fertility in
children, he was not grieved with a period of loss of children.
10 And he used to teach you, when yet with you, the law and the prophets.
11 He used to read to you the slaying of Abel by Cain,
and the offering up of Isaac, and the imprisonment of Joseph. 12
And he used to tell you of the zealous Phinehas; and informed you of Ananias and
Azarias, and Misael in the fire. 13 And he used to glorify
Daniel, who was in the den of lions, and pronounce him blessed.
14 And he used to put you in mind of the scripture of
Esaias, which saith, Even if thou pass through the fire, it shall not burn thee.
15 He chanted to you David, the hymn-writer, who saith,
Many are the afflictions of the just. 16 He declared the
proverbs of Solomon, who saith, He is a tree of life to all those who do His
will. 17 He used to verify Ezekiel, who said, Shall these
dry bones live? 18 For he did not forget the song which
Moses taught, proclaiming, I will kill, and I will make to live.
19 This is our life, and the length of our days.
20 O that bitter, and yet not bitter, day when the
bitter tyrant of the Greeks, quenching fire with fire in his cruel caldrons,
brought with boiling rage the seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the
catapelt, and to all his torments! 21 He pierced the balls
of their eyes, and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with varied
tortures. 22 Wherefore divine retribution pursued and will
pursue the pestilent wretch.
23 But the children of Abraham, with their victorious
mother, are assembled together to the choir of their fathers; having received
pure and immortal souls from God. 24 To whom be glory for
ever and ever. Amen. |
