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18 O Israelite children, offspring of the seed of Abraham, obey this law and exercise piety in every way, 2 knowing that pious reason is master of the passions, not only of sufferings from within but also of those from without. 3 Therefore those who gave over their bodies in suffering for the sake of piety were not only admired by mortals but also were deemed worthy to share in a divine inheritance. 4 Because of them the nation gained peace, and by reviving observance of the law in the homeland they ravaged the enemy. 5 The tyrant Antiochus was both punished on earth and is being chastised after his death. Since in no way whatever was he able to compel the Israelites to adopt foreign ways and to abandon their ancestral customs, he left Jerusalem and marched against the Persians. The Mother’s Address to Her Children 6 The mother of seven sons expressed also these principles to her children: 7 “I was a pure virgin and did not go outside my father’s house, but I guarded the rib from which woman was made.[a] 8 No seducer corrupted me on a desert plain, nor did the destroyer, the deceitful serpent, defile the purity of my virginity. 9 In the time of my maturity I remained with my husband, and when these sons had grown up their father died. A fortunate man was he, who lived out his life with good children and did not have the grief of bereavement. 10 While he was still with you, he taught you the Law and the Prophets. 11 He read to you about Abel slain by Cain and Isaac who was offered as a burnt offering and about Joseph in prison. 12 He told you of the zeal of Phinehas, and he taught you about Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael in the fire. 13 He praised Daniel in the den of the lions and blessed him. 14 He reminded you of the scripture of Isaiah, which says, ‘Even though you go through the fire, the flame shall not consume you.’ 15 He sang to you songs of the psalmist David, who said, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous.’ 16 He recounted to you Solomon’s proverb, ‘There[b] is a tree of life for those who do his will.’ 17 He confirmed the query of Ezekiel, ‘Shall these dry bones live?’ 18 For he did not forget to teach you the song that Moses taught, which says, 19 ‘I kill, and I make alive; this is your life and the length of your days.’ ” 20 O bitter was that day—and yet not bitter—when that bitter tyrant of the Greeks quenched fire with fire in his cruel caldrons and in his burning rage brought those seven sons of the daughter of Abraham to the catapult and back again to more[c] tortures, 21 pierced the pupils of their eyes and cut out their tongues, and put them to death with various tortures. 22 For these crimes divine justice pursued and will pursue the accursed tyrant. 23 But the sons of Abraham with their victorious mother are gathered together into the chorus of the fathers and have received pure and immortal souls from God, 24 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Footnotes 18.7 Gk the rib that was built 18.16 Or He 18.20 Other ancient authorities read to all his

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17 Some of the guards said that when she also was about to be seized and put to death she threw herself into the flames so that no one might touch her body. 2 O mother, who with your seven sons nullified the violence of the tyrant, frustrated his evil designs, and showed the nobility of your faith! 3 Nobly set like a roof on the pillars of your sons, you held firm and unswerving against the earthquake of the tortures. 4 Take courage, therefore, O holy-minded mother, maintaining firm an enduring hope in God. 5 The moon in heaven with the stars is not so majestic as you, who, after lighting the way of your star-like seven sons to piety, stand in honor before God and are firmly set in heaven with them. 6 For your children were true descendants of father Abraham.[a] The Effect of the Martyrdoms 7 If it were possible for us to paint the history of your piety as an artist might, would not those who beheld it shudder as they saw the mother of the seven children enduring their varied tortures to death for the sake of piety? 8 Indeed, it would be proper to inscribe on their tomb these words as a reminder to the people of our nation:[b] 9 “Here lie buried an aged priest and an aged woman and seven children because of the violence of the tyrant who wished to destroy the way of life of the Hebrews. 10 They vindicated their nation, looking to God and enduring torture even to death.” 11 Truly the contest in which they were engaged was divine, 12 for on that day virtue gave the awards and tested them for their endurance. The prize was immortality in endless life. 13 Eleazar was the first contestant, the mother of the seven sons entered the competition, and the brothers contended. 14 The tyrant was the antagonist, and the world and the human race were the spectators. 15 Reverence for God was victor and gave the crown to its own athletes. 16 Who did not admire the athletes of the divine[c] legislation? Who were not amazed? 17 The tyrant himself and all his council marveled at their endurance, 18 because of which they now stand before the divine throne and live the life of eternal blessedness. 19 For Moses says, “All who are consecrated are under your hands.” 20 These, then, who have been consecrated for the sake of God are honored not only with this honor but also by the fact that because of them our enemies did not rule over our nation, 21 the tyrant was punished, and the homeland purified—they having become, as it were, a ransom for the sin of our nation. 22 And through the blood of those pious ones and their death as an atoning sacrifice, divine Providence preserved Israel that previously had been mistreated. 23 For the tyrant Antiochus, when he saw the courage of their virtue and their endurance under the tortures, proclaimed their endurance to his soldiers as an example, 24 and this made them high-minded and courageous for infantry battle and siege, and he ravaged and conquered all his enemies. Footnotes 17.6 Gk For your childbearing was from Abraham the father; other ancient authorities read For . . . Abraham the servant 17.8 Or as a memorial to the heroes of our people 17.16 Other ancient authorities read true

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16 If, then, a woman advanced in years and mother of seven sons endured seeing her children tortured to death, it must be admitted that pious reason is sovereign over the passions. 2 Thus I have demonstrated not only that men have ruled over the passions but also that a woman has despised the fiercest tortures. 3 The lions surrounding Daniel were not so savage nor was the raging fiery furnace of Mishael so intensely hot as was her innate parental love consuming her as she saw her seven sons tortured in such varied ways. 4 But the mother quenched so many and such great passions by pious reason. 5 Consider this also: If this woman, though a mother, had been fainthearted, she would have mourned over them and perhaps spoken as follows: 6 “O how wretched am I and thrice-wretched over and over! After bearing seven children, I am now the mother of none! 7 O seven childbirths all in vain, seven profitless pregnancies, fruitless nurturings and wretched nursings! 8 In vain, my sons, I endured many birth pangs for you and the more grievous anxieties of your upbringing. 9 Alas for my children, some unmarried, others married and without offspring.[a] I shall not see your children or have the happiness of being called grandmother. 10 Alas, I who had so many and beautiful children am a widow and alone, with many sorrows.[b] 11 And when I die, I shall have none of my sons to bury me.” 12 Yet that holy and God-fearing mother did not wail with such a lament for any of them, nor did she dissuade any of them from dying, nor did she grieve as they were dying. 13 On the contrary, as though having a mind like adamant and giving rebirth for immortality to the whole number of her sons, she implored them and urged them on to death for the sake of piety. 14 O mother, soldier of God in the cause of piety, elder and woman! By steadfastness you have conquered even a tyrant, and in word and deed you have proved more powerful than a man. 15 For when you and your sons were arrested together, you stood and watched Eleazar being tortured and said to your sons in the Hebrew language, 16 “My sons, noble is the contest to which you are called to bear witness for the nation. Fight zealously for our ancestral law. 17 For it would be shameful if, while an aged man endures such agonies for the sake of piety, you young men were to be terrified by tortures. 18 Remember that it is through God that you have had a share in the world and have enjoyed life, 19 and therefore you ought to endure every suffering for the sake of God. 20 For his sake also our father Abraham was zealous to sacrifice his son Isaac, the ancestor of our nation, and when Isaac saw his father’s hand wielding a knife[c] and descending upon him, he did not cower. 21 Daniel the righteous was thrown to the lions, and Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were hurled into the fiery furnace and endured it for the sake of God. 22 You, too, must show the same faithfulness toward God and not be grieved. 23 It is unreasonable for people who have knowledge of piety not to withstand pain.” 24 By these words the mother of the seven encouraged and persuaded each of her sons to die rather than violate God’s commandment. 25 They knew also that those who die for the sake of God live to God, as do Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the patriarchs. Footnotes 16.9 Gk without benefit 16.10 Or much to be pitied 16.20 Gk sword

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15 O reason of the children, tyrant over the passions! O piety, more desirable to the mother than her children! 2 Two courses were open to this mother, that of piety and that of preserving her seven sons for a time, as the tyrant had promised. 3 She loved piety more, the piety that preserves them for eternal life according to God’s promise.[a] 4 In what manner might I express the passions of parents who love their children? We impress upon the character of a small child a wondrous likeness both of mind and of form. Especially is this true of mothers, who because of their birth pangs have a deeper sympathy toward their offspring than do the fathers. 5 For to the extent that mothers are of tender spirit and bear more children, so much the more attached are they to their children. 6 The mother of the seven boys, more than any other mother, loved her children. In seven pregnancies she had implanted in herself tender love toward them, 7 and because of the many pains she suffered with each of them she had sympathy for them, 8 yet because of the fear of God she disdained the temporary safety of her children. 9 Not only so, but also because of the nobility of her sons and their ready obedience to the law, she felt a greater tenderness toward them. 10 For they were just and self-controlled and courageous and magnanimous and loved their brothers and their mother so that they obeyed her even to death in keeping the ordinances. 11 Nevertheless, though so many factors influenced the mother to suffer with them out of love for her children, in the case of none of them were the various tortures strong enough to pervert her reason. 12 But each child separately and all of them together the mother urged on to death for piety’s sake. 13 O sacred nature, parental affection, tender love toward offspring, nursing, and indomitable maternal passions! 14 This mother, who saw them tortured and burned one by one, for piety’s sake did not change her attitude. 15 She watched the flesh of her children being consumed by fire, their toes and fingers scattered[b] on the ground, and the flesh of the head to the chin exposed like masks. 16 O mother, tried now by more bitter pains than even the birth pangs you suffered for them! 17 O woman, who alone gave birth to such perfect piety! 18 Neither when the firstborn breathed his last, it did not turn you aside, nor when the second in torments looked at you piteously nor when the third expired, 19 nor did you weep when you looked at the eyes of each one in his tortures gazing boldly at the same agonies and saw in their nostrils the signs of the approach of death. 20 When you saw the flesh of children burned[c] upon the flesh of other children, severed hands upon hands, scalped heads upon heads, and corpses fallen on other corpses, and when you saw the place filled with many spectators because of the children’s torments, you did not shed tears. 21 Neither the melodies of sirens nor the songs of swans attract the attention of their hearers as did the voices of the children in torture calling to their mother. 22 How great and how many torments the mother then suffered as her sons were tortured on the wheel and with the hot irons! 23 But pious reason, giving her heart a man’s courage in the very midst of her passions, strengthened her to disregard, for the time, her parental love. 24 Although she witnessed the destruction of seven children and the ingenious and various rackings, this noble mother disregarded all these[d] because of faith in God. 25 For as in the council chamber of her own soul she saw mighty advocates—nature, family, parental love, and the instruments of torture awaiting her children— 26 this mother held two ballots, one bearing death and the other deliverance for her children. 27 She did not approve the deliverance that would preserve the seven sons for a short time, 28 but as the daughter of God-fearing Abraham she remembered his fortitude. 29 O mother of the nation, vindicator of the law, and defender of piety who carried away the prize of the contest in your heart! 30 O more noble than males in steadfastness and more courageous than men in endurance! 31 Just as Noah’s ark, carrying the world in the universal flood, stoutly endured the waves, 32 so you, O guardian of the law, overwhelmed from every side by the flood of your passions and the violent winds—the torture of your sons—endured nobly and withstood the wintry storms raging on piety’s account. Footnotes 15.3 Gk according to God 15.15 Or quivering 15.20 Other ancient authorities read the amputated flesh of children 15.24 Other ancient authorities read having bidden them farewell, surrendered them

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14 Furthermore, they encouraged them to face the torture so that they not only despised their agonies but also mastered the passions of brotherly love. 2 O reason,[a] more royal than kings and freer than the free! 3 O sacred harmony of the seven brothers, well-tuned in regard to piety! 4 None of the seven youths proved coward or shrank from death, 5 but all of them, as though running the course toward immortality, hastened to death by torture. 6 Just as the hands and feet are moved in harmony with the guidance of the mind, so those holy youths, as though moved by an immortal spirit of piety, agreed to go to death for its sake. 7 O most holy seven, brothers in harmony! For just as the seven days of creation move in choral dance around piety, 8 so these youths, forming a chorus of seven,[b] encircled the fear of tortures and dissolved it. 9 Even now, we ourselves shudder as we hear of the suffering of these young men; they not only saw what was happening, not only heard the direct word of threat, but also bore the sufferings steadfastly, and in agonies of fire at that. 10 What could be more excruciatingly painful than this? For the power of fire is intense and swift, and it consumed their bodies quickly. An Encomium on the Mother of the Seven 11 Do not consider it amazing that reason had full command over these men in their tortures, since even the mind of woman despised more diverse agonies, 12 for the mother of the seven young men bore up under the rackings of each one of her children. 13 Observe how complex is a mother’s love for her children, which draws everything toward a sympathy felt in her inmost parts. 14 Even unreasoning animals, as well as humans, have a sympathy and parental love for their offspring. 15 For example, among birds, the ones that are tame protect their young by building on the housetops, 16 and the others, by building at the tops of mountains and the depths of chasms, in holes of trees, and on treetops, hatch the nestlings and ward off the intruder. 17 If they are not able to keep the intruder[c] away, they do what they can to help their young by flying in circles around them in the anguish of love, warning them with their own calls. 18 And why is it necessary to demonstrate sympathy for children by the example of unreasoning animals, 19 since even bees at the time for making honeycombs defend themselves against intruders and, as though with an iron dart, sting those who approach their hive and defend it even to the death? 20 But sympathy for her children did not sway the mother of the young men; she was of the same mind as Abraham. Footnotes 14.2 Or O minds 14.8 Meaning of Gk uncertain 14.17 Gk it

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Reason’s Sovereignty in the Seven 13 Since, then, the seven brothers despised sufferings even unto death, everyone must concede that pious reason is sovereign over the passions. 2 For if they had been slaves to their passions and had eaten defiling food, we would say that they had been conquered by these passions. 3 But in fact it was not so. Instead, by reason, which is praised before God, they prevailed over their passions. 4 The supremacy of the mind over these cannot be overlooked, for the brothers[a] mastered both passions and pains. 5 How, then, can one fail to confess the sovereignty of right reason over passion in those who were not turned back by fiery agonies? 6 For just as towers jutting out over harbors hold back the threatening waves and make it calm for those who sail into the inner basin, 7 so the seven-towered right reason of the youths, by fortifying the harbor of piety, conquered the tempest of the passions. 8 For they constituted a holy chorus of piety and emboldened one another, saying, 9 “Brothers, let us die like brothers for the sake of the law; let us imitate the three youths in Assyria who despised the same ordeal[b] of the furnace. 10 Let us not be cowardly in the demonstration of our piety.” 11 While one said, “Courage, brother,” another said, “Bear up nobly,” 12 and another reminded them, “Remember whence you came, and the father by whose hand Isaac would have submitted to being slain for the sake of piety.” 13 Each of them and all of them together looking at one another, cheerful and undaunted, said, “Let us with all our hearts consecrate ourselves to God, who gave us our lives,[c] and let us use our bodies as a bulwark for the law. 14 Let us not fear him who thinks he is killing us, 15 for great is the soul’s contest and the danger of eternal torment lying before those who transgress the commandment of God. 16 Therefore let us put on the full armor of mastery of the passions that divine reason provides. 17 For if we so die,[d] Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will welcome us, and all the fathers will praise us.” 18 Those who were left behind said to each of the brothers who were being dragged away, “Do not put us to shame, brother, or betray the brothers who have died before us.” 19 You are not ignorant of the affection of family ties, which the divine and all-wise Providence has bequeathed through the fathers to their descendants and which was implanted in the mother’s womb. 20 There the brothers spent the same length of time and were shaped during the same period of time, and growing from the same blood and through the same life, they were brought to the light of day. 21 When they were born after an equal time of gestation, they drank milk from the same fountains. From such embraces brotherly loving souls are nourished, 22 and they grow stronger from this common nurture and daily companionship and from both general education and our discipline in the law of God. 23 Therefore, when sympathy and brotherly affection had been so established, the seven brothers were the more sympathetic to one another. 24 Since they had been educated by the same law and trained in the same virtues and brought up together in right living, they loved one another all the more. 25 A common zeal for nobility strengthened their goodwill toward one another and their concord, 26 because they could make their brotherly love more fervent with the aid of piety. 27 But although nature and companionship and virtuous habits had augmented the affection of family ties, those who were left endured for the sake of piety, watching their brothers being maltreated and tortured to death. Footnotes 13.4 Gk they 13.9 Cn: Gk citizen rights 13.13 Or souls 13.17 Other ancient authorities read suffer

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The Torture of the Seventh Brother 12 When he, too, thrown into the caldron, had died a blessed death, the seventh and youngest of all came forward. 2 Even though the tyrant had been vehemently reproached by the brothers, he felt strong compassion for this child when he saw that he was already in fetters. He summoned him to come nearer and tried to persuade him, saying, 3 “You see the result of your brothers’ stupidity, for they died in torments because of their disobedience. 4 You, too, if you do not obey, will be miserably tortured and die before your time, 5 but if you yield to persuasion you will be my friend and a leader in the government of the kingdom.” 6 When he had thus appealed to him, he sent for the boy’s mother to show compassion on her who had been bereaved of so many sons and to influence her to persuade the surviving son to obey and save himself. 7 But after his mother had exhorted him in the Hebrew language, as we shall tell a little later, 8 he said, “Let me loose, let me speak to the king and to all his Friends who are with him.” 9 Extremely pleased by the boy’s declaration, they freed him at once. 10 Running to the nearest of the braziers, 11 he said, “You profane tyrant, most impious of all the wicked, since you have received good things and also your kingdom from God, were you not ashamed to murder his servants and torture on the wheel the athletes of piety? 12 Because of this, justice[a] has laid up for you a more intense and eternal fire and tortures, and these throughout all time will never let you go. 13 As a man, were you not ashamed, you most savage beast, to cut out the tongues of people who have feelings like yours and are made of the same elements as you and to maltreat and torture them in this way? 14 Surely they by dying nobly fulfilled their pious duty to God, but you will wail bitterly for having killed without cause the contestants for virtue.” 15 Then because he, too, was about to die, he said, 16 “I do not desert the excellent example[b] of my brothers, 17 and I call on the God of our ancestors to be merciful to our nation,[c] 18 but on you he will take vengeance both in this present life and when you are dead.” 19 After he had uttered these imprecations, he flung himself into the braziers and so ended his life.[d] Footnotes 12.12 Another ancient authority reads divine justice 12.16 Other ancient authorities read the witness 12.17 Other ancient authorities read my people 12.19 Gk and so gave up