4 Maccabees 8

¹then, indeed, vehemently swayed with emotion, 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. ²The tyrant having given this charge, seven kindred were brought into his presence, along with their aged mother. They were handsome, modest, well-born, and altogether comely. ³When the tyrant saw them encircling their mother as in a dance, he was pleased with them. Being struck with their becoming and innocent manner, smiled at them, and calling them near, said, ⁴“O youths, with favorable feelings, I admire the beauty of each of you. Greatly honouring so numerous a band of kindred, I not only counsel you not to share the madness of the old man who has been tortured before, ⁵but I 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. ⁶Put confidence in me, then, and you will receive places of authority in my government, if you forsake your national way of life, ⁷and, conforming to the Greek way of life, alter your rule and revel in youth’s delights. ⁸For if you provoke me by your disobedience, you will compel me to destroy every one of you with terrible punishments by tortures. ⁹Have mercy, then, upon your own selves, whom I, although an enemy, am compassionate for your age and attractive appearance. ¹⁰Won’t you consider this: that if you disobey, there will be nothing left for you but to die in torture?”

¹¹When he had said this, he ordered the instruments of torture to be brought forward, that fear might prevail upon them to eat unclean meat. ¹²When the spearman brought forward the wheels, the racks, the hooks, caldrons, pans, finger-racks, iron hands and wedges, and bellows, the tyrant continued: ¹³“Fear, young men, and the righteousness which you worship will be merciful to you if you transgress because of compulsion.”

¹⁴Now 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. ¹⁵Now let’s consider the matter. Had any of them been weak-spirited and cowardly among them, what reasoning would they have employed but these? ¹⁶“O wretched that we are, and exceedingly senseless! When the king exhorts us, and calls us to his bounty, should we not obey him? ¹⁷Why do we cheer ourselves with vain counsels, and venture upon a disobedience bringing death? ¹⁸Shall we not fear, O kindred, the instruments of torture and weigh the threatenings of torment and shun this vain-glory and destructive pride? ¹⁹Let’s have compassion upon our age and relent over the years of our mother. ²⁰Let’s bear in mind that we will be dying as rebels. ²¹Divine Justice will pardon us if we fear the king through necessity. ²²Why withdraw ourselves from a most sweet life, and deprive ourselves of this pleasant world? ²³Let’s not oppose necessity, nor seek vain-glory by our own torture. ²⁴The law itself wouldn’t arbitrarily put us to death because we dread torture. ²⁵Why has such angry zeal taken root in us, and such fatal obstinacy approved itself to us, when we might live unmolested by the king?”

²⁶But the young men didn’t say or think anything of this kind when about to be tortured. ²⁷For they were well aware of the sufferings, and masters of the pains. ²⁸So that as soon as the tyrant had ceased counselling them to eat the unclean, they all with one voice, as from the same heart said: