having undertaken piety? What a man was Eleazar, "choosing a death with glory rather than a life with pollution, and going of his own accord to the instrument of torture," who "making a noble resolve, worthy of his ninety years of age and the eminence of his old age and of his acquired and distinguished gray hair and of his most excellent upbringing from childhood, and even more of the holy and divinely established law" said: that "It is not worthy of our age to dissemble, so that many of the young, supposing that Eleazar, the ninety-year-old, has gone over to paganism, might themselves be led astray on my account through my hypocrisy and for the sake of a little and momentary life, and I should bring pollution and a stain upon my old age. For even if for the present I escape the punishment of men, yet I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty, either living or dead. Therefore, by manfully exchanging my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age, and I will have left behind for the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws." And I pray that you, when you are at the gates of death, or rather of freedom, especially if torments should be brought upon you (for there is no reason to despair that you will suffer from the design of opposing powers), may say such things: "It is clear to the Lord who has holy knowledge that although I might have been delivered from death, I am enduring severe pains in my body while being flogged, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because of the fear of him." Such, then, was the death of Eleazar, so that it was said of him: "He left his death as an example of nobility and a memorial of virtue not only to the young but also to the great majority of the nation." 23 And the seven brothers recorded in the books of the Maccabees, whom Antiochus tortured with "whips and scourges" while they persevered in godliness, will be able to be a most excellent example of a stalwart testimony for anyone who reflects, if he is to be less than mere children, who endured tortures not one by one only but also, by having witnessed the torture of their brothers, demonstrated a vigorous stance of piety. One of whom, becoming, as the scripture named him, the "spokesman," said to the tyrant: "What do you intend to ask and learn? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers." And what need is there to say what sort of things they endured, with pans and cauldrons being heated red-hot, so that they might be tormented in them, each having first suffered different things? For their so-called "spokesman" first had his tongue cut out; then he was scalped on the head, and he bore the scalping as others bear circumcision for the sake of the divine law, believing that even in this he was fulfilling the word of God's covenant. And Antiochus, not being satisfied with these things, mutilated him "while the rest of the brothers and their mother looked on," punishing the brothers and the mother by the spectacle, and thinking he would shake their resolve by means of such supposedly terrible things. Thus, Antiochus, not being satisfied with these things, when he had become "useless" with respect to the frame of his body through the punishments he first inflicted, "ordered him, still breathing, to be brought to the fire" in the pans and the cauldrons "and to be fried." And as the steam arose because of the tyrant's cruelty from the roasting of the flesh of the most noble athlete of piety, the rest "exhorted one another with their mother to die nobly," encouraging themselves with the thought that God was watching these things; for the conviction was sufficient for their endurance that the eye of God was present with those who were enduring. And the judge of the athletes of piety encouraged them, being encouraged and, so to speak, rejoicing at those who rose up against such great torments. And it would be opportune for us, when we are in such circumstances, to speak their words to ourselves, which are as follows: "The Lord God is watching and in truth has compassion on us." 24 When the first had been tested in this way, as gold is tested in a furnace, the second was brought "to the mockery"; whose "skin with

εὐσεβείας ἀναδεξάμενος; ὁποῖος ἦν ὁ Ἐλεάζαρος «τὸν μετ' εὐ κλείας θάνατον μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν μετὰ μύσους βίον ἀναδεξάμενος καὶ αὐτο προαιρέτως ἐπὶ τὸ τύμπανον προάγων», ὅστις «λογισμὸν ἀστεῖον ἀνα λαβὼν ἄξιον τῆς ἐνενηκονταετοῦς αὐτοῦ ἡλικίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ γήρως ὑπεροχῆς καὶ τῆς ἐπικτήτου καὶ ἐπιφανοῦς πολιᾶς καὶ τῆς ἐκ παιδὸς καλλίστης ἀνατροφῆς μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς ἁγίας καὶ θεοκτίστου νομοθεσίας» εἶπεν· ὅτι «οὐκ ἔστι τῆς ἡμετέρας ἡλικίας ἄξιον ὑποκριθῆναι, ἵνα πολλοὶ τῶν νέων ὑπολαβόντες Ἐλεάζαρον τὸν ἐνενηκονταετῆ μετα βεβληκέναι εἰς ἀλλοφυλισμὸν, καὶ αὐτοὶ διὰ τὴν ἐμὴν ὑπόκρισιν καὶ διὰ τὸ μικρὸν καὶ ἀκαριαῖον ζῆν πλανηθῶσι δι' ἐμὲ, καὶ μύσος καὶ κηλῖδα τοῦ γήρως κατακτήσομαι. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐξε λοῦμαι τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τιμωρίαν, ἀλλὰ τὰς τοῦ παντοκράτορος χεῖρας οὔτε ζῶν οὔτε θανὼν ἐκφεύξομαι. διόπερ ἀνδρείως νῦν με ταλλάξας τὸν βίον τοῦ μὲν γήρως ἄξιος φανήσομαι, τοῖς δὲ νέοις ὑπόδειγμα γενναῖον καταλελοιπὼς εἰς τὸ προθύμως καὶ γενναίως ὑπὲρ τῶν σεμνῶν καὶ ἁγίων νόμων εὐθανατίζειν.» εὔχομαι δὲ ὑμᾶς παρὰ ταῖς θύραις τοῦ θανάτου μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς ἐλευθερίας γενομένους, μάλιστα εἰ πόνοι προσάγοιντο (οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἀπελπίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς βουλῆς τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἐνεργειῶν παθεῖν ὑμᾶς), τοιαῦτα εἰπεῖν· «τῷ κυρίῳ τῷ τὴν ἁγίαν γνῶσιν ἔχοντι φανερόν ἐστιν ὅτι δυνάμενος ἀπολυθῆναι τοῦ θανάτου σκληρὰς ὑποφέρω κατὰ σῶμα ἀλγηδόνας μαστιγούμενος, κατὰ ψυχὴν δὲ ἡδέως διὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ φόβον ταῦτα πάσχω.» τοιοῦτος δὴ ὁ θάνατος Ἐλεαζάρου ἦν, ὡς ἐπειρῆσθαι αὐτῷ· «οὐ μόνον τοῖς νέοις ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς πλείστοις τοῦ ἔθνους τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θάνατον γενναιότητος ὑπόδειγμα καὶ μνημόσυνον ἀρετῆς καταλέλοιπε.» 23 Καὶ οἱ ἑπτὰ δὲ ἐν τοῖς Μακκαβαϊκοῖς ἀναγραφέντες ἀδελφοὶ, οὓς «μάστιξι καὶ νευραῖς» ᾐκίσατο Ἀντίοχος ἐμμένοντας τῇ θεοσε βείᾳ, δυνήσονται παράδειγμα κάλλιστον εἶναι ῥωμαλέου μαρτυρίου παντὶ λογισαμένῳ ἂν, εἰ μέλλει παιδαρίων εἶναι ἐλάττων, οὐ καθ' ἕνα μόνον βασάνους ὑπομεινάντων ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τὴν αἰκίαν τῶν ἀδελφῶν τεθεωρηκέναι παράστημα εὔτονον εὐσεβείας ἐπιδειξαμένων. ἀφ' ὧν εἷς γενόμενος, ὡς ἡ γραφὴ ὠνόμασε, «προήγορος» εἶπε πρὸς τὸν τύ ραννον· «τί μέλλεις ἐρωτᾶν καὶ μανθάνειν; ἕτοιμοι γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκειν ἐσμὲν ἢ παραβαίνειν τοὺς πατρίους νόμους». τί δὲ δεῖ λέγειν, ὁποῖα ὑπέμειναν τηγάνων καὶ λεβήτων ἐκπυρουμένων, ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς βασα νισθῶσι προπαθόντες ἕκαστος διάφορα; ὁ γὰρ ὀνομασθεὶς αὐτῶν «προήγορος» ἐγλωσσοτομήθη πρῶτον· εἶτα περιεσκυθίσθη τὴν κεφα λὴν, καὶ οὕτως ἤνεγκε τὸν περισκυθισμὸν ὡς ἄλλοι τὴν διὰ τὸν θεῖον νόμον περιτομὴν, νομίζων καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πληροῦν λόγον διαθήκης θεοῦ. καὶ οὐκ ἀρκεσθείς γε τούτοις ὁ Ἀντίοχος ἠκρωτηρίασεν αὐτὸν «τῶν λοιπῶν ἀδελφῶν καὶ τῆς μητρὸς συνορώντων» τῇ θέᾳ κολάζων τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ οἰόμενος τὴν πρόθεσιν αὐτῶν διὰ τῶν οὕτω νομιζομένων φοβερῶν κινήσειν. οὕτως δὴ ὁ Ἀντίοχος τού τοις μὴ ἀρκεσθεὶς «ἄχρηστον» ὡς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ σώματος κατασκευὴν «γενόμενον» δι' ὧν πρῶτον ἐκόλασεν «ἐκέλευσε τῇ» ἐν τοῖς τηγάνοις καὶ τοῖς λέβησι «πυρᾷ προσάγειν ἔμπνουν καὶ τηγανίζειν» αὐτόν. ὡς δὲ ἡ ἀτμὶς ἀνεδίδοτο ὑπὸ τῆς ὠμότητος τοῦ τυράννου ὀπτωμένων τῶν τοῦ γενναιοτάτου ἀθλητοῦ τῆς εὐσεβείας σαρκῶν, οἱ λοιποὶ «παρε κάλουν ἀλλήλους σὺν τῇ μητρὶ γενναίως τελευτᾶν» παραμυθούμενοι ἑαυτοὺς τῷ λογισμῷ τοῦ ἐφορᾶν ταῦτα τὸν θεόν· ἤρκει γὰρ αὐτοῖς εἰς ὑπομονὴν ἡ πειθὼ τοῦ παρεῖναι τοῖς ὑπομένουσι τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ὀφθαλμόν· καὶ παρεκάλει αὐτοὺς ὁ ἀγωνοθέτης τῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀθλητῶν, παρακαλούμενος καὶ, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, εὐφραινόμενος ἐπὶ τοῖς κατεξανισταμένοις τῶν τηλικούτων πόνων. εὔκαιρον δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐν τοιούτοις γενομένους εἰπεῖν τοὺς ἐκείνων λόγους πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς τοῦτον ἔχοντας τὸν τρόπον οὕτως· «κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐφορᾷ καὶ ταῖς ἀληθείαις ἐφ' ἡμῖν παρακαλεῖται.» 24 Τοῦ πρώτου τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον δοκιμασθέντος, ὡς δο κιμάζεται χρυσὸς ἐν χωνευτηρίῳ, ὁ δεύτερος «ἐπὶ τὸν ἐμπαιγμὸν» ἤγετο· οὗ τὸ «δέρμα σὺν