Fourth Book of Maccabees 6 - CHAP. VI. Brotherly bonds and a mothers 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 boys 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 boys 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. p. 192 19 How can we do otherwise than admit right Reasons 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 Reasons 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 mothers 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. p. 193 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 womans 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 mothers 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 mens. 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. Next: Chapter VII CHAP. VII. A comparison of a mothers and fathers 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 tyrants 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 p. 194 likeness of our soul and of our shape on the tender nature of the child, and most of all through the mothers sympathy with her children being deeper than the fathers. 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 religions 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 hearers 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 mans 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. p. 195 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 religions 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 religions 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, p. 196 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 religions 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 fathers 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 Gods 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. Next: Chapter VIII 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 tyrants 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 p. 197 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 Gods 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 nations 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 fathers 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 p. 198 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.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:26:54 +0000
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