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of descendants, nor will it abstain from their encomia. Which one, therefore, of the seven athletes do you wish us to take up? Is it the first, or the second, or the third, or the last? Or rather, no one among them is last; for it is a chorus, and of a chorus neither beginning nor end is seen; but so that we may make the one being praised more recognizable, we speak of the last in age. For the struggles are brotherly, and the achievements are kindred; 50.624 and where there is a kinship of achievements, there is no first and second. Let us take up, then, the last in age and of the same age in spirit, not only of the same age as his brothers, but also as the old man himself. This one alone of the brothers was led unbound to the instruments of torture; for he did not wait for the hands of the executioners; but he anticipated their cruelty with his own eagerness, and was led unbound. And of his brothers he had no one as a spectator; for all had been perfected; but he had a theater more venerable than his brothers, the eyes of his mother. Did I not tell you, that even if we were not making an effort the mother would certainly make her entrance? Behold, then, the sequence of the discourse has brought her in. And this theater was so venerable and great, that it had watching him the very populace of the angels, or rather, also his brothers, no longer from the earth, but from the heavens. For crowned they sat, just as in the Olympic games the judges, not judging the contests, but hastening to receive the victor. He stood, therefore, unbound, and uttering words full of philosophy; for he wished to convert the tyrant to his own piety; but when he was not able, he did what remained for him to do, he gave himself over to the punishment. And that one indeed pitied him for his age, but this one wept for him for his impiety; for the tyrant and the martyr do not see the same things; for to both belong the same eyes, but of the flesh; but those of faith are no longer the same; but that one indeed was looking at the present life, while this one was looking at the future one, to which he was about to fly up; and the tyrant saw frying pans, but the martyr saw Gehenna, into which the tyrant was about to cast himself. And if we admire Isaac, because having been bound by his father and having his feet tied together, he did not leap from the altar, nor did he flinch seeing the knife brought against him; it is necessary to admire this one much more, because he was not bound, nor did he have need of the compulsion from bonds, nor did he wait for the hands of the executioners, but he himself to himself became both victim and priest and altar. For having looked around in a circle, and seeing none of his brothers present he was agitated, he hastened to hurry and overtake them, so as not to be separated from this beautiful chorus. For this reason he did not wait for the hands of the executioners; for he feared the tyrant's pity, lest having mercy on him he might snatch him away from the fellowship of his brothers; for this reason, anticipating, he snatched himself from the savage philanthropy. For there were many things sufficient to bend the tyrant: the youthfulness of his age, the punishment of so many brothers, which was sufficient even to satiate a wild beast but that one was not satiated, the grey hair 50.625 of his mother, his gaining nothing more from the punishment of those who had gone before. 2. Having considered all these things, the young man cast himself into a punishment from which it was not possible to escape, and as into a spring of cool streams, so into the cauldrons he plunged, considering them a divine bath and baptism. For just as men who are burning cast themselves into a channel of cool waters, so that one, being inflamed with desire for his brothers, cast himself toward that punishment. And his mother also offered encouragement, not because he needed encouragement, but so that you might learn again the firmness of the woman; for over none of the seven children did she suffer the things of mothers, or rather, over each one she suffered the things of mothers; for she did not say to

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ἐκγόνων, οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις αὐτῶν ἀφέξεται. Τίνα οὖν βούλεσθε τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀπολάβωμεν ἀθλητῶν; Ἆρα τὸν πρῶτον, ἢ τὸν δεύτερον, ἢ τὸν τρίτον, ἢ τὸν ἔσχατον; Μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδεὶς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔσχατος· χορὸς γάρ ἐστι, χοροῦ δὲ οὔτε ἀρχὴ, οὔτε τέλος φαίνεται· ἀλλ' ἵνα γνωριμώτερον ποιήσωμεν τὸν ἐπαινούμενον, τὸν ἔσχατον τῇ ἡλικίᾳ λέγομεν. Ἀδελφὰ γὰρ τὰ παλαίσματα, καὶ συγγενῆ τὰ κατορθώματα· 50.624 ἔνθα δὲ ἡ συγγένεια κατορθωμάτων, οὐκ ἔστι πρῶτος καὶ δεύτερος. Ἀπολάβωμεν οὖν τὸν ἔσχατον τῇ ἡλικίᾳ καὶ ὁμήλικα τῷ φρονήματι, οὐ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ὁμήλικα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ γέροντι. Οὗτος μόνος τῶν ἀδελφῶν λελυμένος ἤγετο πρὸς τὰ βασανιστήρια· οὐ γὰρ ἀνέμεινε τὰς τῶν δημίων χεῖρας· ἀλλὰ προέλαβε τῇ οἰκείᾳ προθυμίᾳ τὴν ἐκείνων ὠμότητα, καὶ λελυμένος ἤγετο. Καὶ τῶν μὲν ἀδελφῶν οὐδένα εἶχε θεατήν· πάντες γὰρ ἦσαν τελειωθέντες· εἶχε δὲ σεμνότερον τῶν ἀδελφῶν θέατρον, τοὺς τῆς μητρὸς ὀφθαλμούς. Οὐκ ἔλεγον ὑμῖν, ὅτι καὶ μὴ σπουδαζόντων ἡμῶν ἐπεισελεύσεται καὶ ἡ μήτηρ πάντως; Ἰδοὺ τοίνυν εἰσήγαγεν αὐτὴν ἡ ἀκολουθία τοῦ λόγου. Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ θέατρον οὕτω σεμνὸν ἦν καὶ μέγα, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὸν τῶν ἀγγέλων τὸν δῆμον, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς εἶχεν αὐτὸν θεωμένους, οὐκ ἔτι ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ἐστεφανωμένοι γὰρ ἐκάθηντο, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς Ὀλυμπιακοῖς ἀγῶσιν οἱ δικασταὶ, οὐχὶ κρίνοντες τοῖς παλαίσμασιν, ἀλλὰ τὸν στεφανίτην ἐπειγόμενοι λαβεῖν. Εἰστήκει τοίνυν λελυμένος, καὶ φθεγγόμενος ῥήματα φιλοσοφίας γέμοντα· ἐβούλετο μὲν γὰρ μεταστῆσαι τὸν τύραννον πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν εὐσέβειαν· ὡς δὲ οὐκ ἴσχυσε, τὸ ἑαυτοῦ λοιπὸν ἐποίησεν, ἐξέδωκεν ἑαυτὸν τῇ τιμωρίᾳ. Κἀκεῖνος μὲν ᾤκτειρεν αὐτὸν τῆς ἡλικίας, οὗτος δὲ ἐδάκρυσεν αὐτὸν τῆς ἀσεβείας· οὐ γὰρ τὰ αὐτὰ βλέπει ὁ τύραννος καὶ ὁ μάρτυς· ἀμφοτέροις μὲν γὰρ οἱ αὐτοὶ ὀφθαλμοὶ, ἀλλὰ τῆς σαρκός· οἱ δὲ τῆς πίστεως οὐκ ἔτι οἱ αὐτοί· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἔβλεπε τὴν παροῦσαν ζωὴν, οὗτος δὲ ἔβλεπε τὴν μέλλουσαν, πρὸς ἣν ἔμελλεν ἀναπτήσεσθαι· καὶ ὁ μὲν τύραννος ἑώρα τήγανα, ὁ δὲ μάρτυς ἑώρα τὴν γέενναν, εἰς ἣν ἔμελλεν ἑαυτὸν ἐμβαλεῖν ὁ τύραννος. Εἰ δὲ τὸν Ἰσαὰκ θαυμάζομεν, ὅτι δεθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ συμποδισθεὶς, οὐκ ἐξήλατο τοῦ βωμοῦ, οὐδὲ ἐσκίρτησεν ὁρῶν μάχαιραν ἐπαγομένην· πολλῷ μᾶλλον τοῦτον θαυμάζειν χρὴ, ὅτι οὐκ ἐδέθη, οὐδὲ τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν δεσμῶν ἀνάγκης χρείαν ἔσχεν, οὐδὲ ἀνέμεινε τὰς χεῖρας τῶν δημίων, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ καὶ θῦμα καὶ ἱερεὺς καὶ θυσιαστήριον γέγονε. Περισκοπήσας γὰρ κύκλῳ, καὶ ἰδὼν οὐδένα τῶν ἀδελφῶν παρόντα ἐθορυβήθη, ἠπείχθη σπεῦσαι καὶ καταλαβεῖν, ὥστε μὴ ἀποσχισθῆναι τοῦ καλοῦ τούτου χοροῦ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀνέμεινε τὰς τῶν δημίων χεῖρας· ἐφοβεῖτο γὰρ τὴν φειδῶ τοῦ τυράννου, μή ποτε αὐτὸν κατελεήσας ἐξαρπάσῃ τῆς κοινωνίας τῶν ἀδελφῶν· διὰ τοῦτο προλαβὼν ἑαυτὸν ἐξήρπασε τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τῆς ἀνημέρου. Καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ ἦν ἱκανὰ ἐπικάμψαι τὸν τύραννον, τῆς ἡλικίας τὸ νέον, τῶν ἀδελφῶν τῶν τοσούτων ἡ τιμωρία, ἡ καὶ θηρίον ἱκανὴ κορέσαι ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος οὐκ ἐκορέννυτο, ἡ πολιὰ 50.625 τῆς μητρὸς, τὸ μηδὲν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι πλέον ἀπὸ τῆς κολάσεως τῶν προλαβόντων. βʹ. Ταῦτα πάντα ἐννοήσας ὁ νεανίας ἐνέβαλεν ἑαυτὸν εἰς τιμωρίαν, ἀφ' ἧς διαφυγεῖν οὐκ ἐνῆν, καὶ ὡς εἰς πηγὴν ναμάτων ψυχρῶν, οὕτως εἰς τοὺς λέβητας ἐκυβίστα, λουτρὸν αὐτοὺς θεῖον καὶ βάπτισμα νομίζων. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἄνθρωποι φλεγόμενοι εἰς εὔριπον ψυχρῶν ὑδάτων ἑαυτοὺς ἀφιᾶσιν, οὕτως ἐκεῖνος ἐκκαιόμενος τῇ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐπιθυμίᾳ πρὸς τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐκείνην ἀφῆκεν ἑαυτόν. Προσήγαγε δὲ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ παράκλησιν, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ παρακλήσεως ἐκεῖνος ἐδεῖτο, ἀλλ' ἵνα μάθῃς πάλιν τὸ στεῤῥὸν τῆς γυναικός· ἐπ' οὐδενὶ γὰρ τῶν ἑπτὰ παίδων ἔπαθε τὰ μητέρων, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τὰ μητέρων ἔπαθεν· οὐ γὰρ εἶπε πρὸς