74.  Do you praise the courage of Elijah165    2 Kings i. 1. in the presence of tyrants, and his fiery translation?166    Ib. ii. 11.  Or the fair inheritance of Elisha, the sheepskin mantle, accompanied by the spirit of Elijah?167    Ib. ii. 13, 15.  You must also praise the life of Basil, spent in the fire.  I mean in the multitude of temptations, and his escape through fire, which burnt, but did not consume, the mystery of “the bush,”168    Exod. iii. 1. and the fair cloak of skin from on high, his indifference to the flesh.  I pass by the rest, the three young men bedewed in the fire,169    Dan. iii. 5. the fugitive prophet praying in the whale’s belly,170    Jonah ii. 1. and coming forth from the creature, as from a chamber; the just man in the den, restraining the lions’ rage,171    Dan. vi. 22. and the struggle of the seven Maccabees,172    2 Macc. vii. 1. who were perfected with their father and mother in blood, and in all kinds of tortures.  Their endurance he rivalled, and won their glory.

Ἐπαινεῖς Ἡλίου τὴν πρὸς τοὺς τυράννους παρρησίαν, καὶ τὴν διὰ πυρὸς ἁρπαγήν; Ἐλισσαίου τε τὴν καλὴν κληρονομίαν, τὴν μηλωτήν, ᾗ τὸ Ἡλίου πνεῦμα συνηκολούθησεν; Ἐπαίνει κἀκείνου τὴν ἐν πυρὶ ζωήν, τῷ πλήθει λέγω τῶν πειρασμῶν, καὶ τὴν διὰ πυρὸς σωτηρίαν, καίοντος μέν, οὐ κατακαίοντος δέ, τὸ περὶ τὴν βάτον θαῦμα, καὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐξ ὕψους δέρος, τὴν ἀσαρκίαν. Ἐῶ τἆλλα, τοὺς δροσισθέντας ἐν πυρὶ νεανίας: τὸν ἐν γαστρὶ κήτους εὐξάμενον προφήτην φυγάδα, καὶ ὡς ἀπὸ θαλάμου, τοῦ θηρὸς προελθόντα: τὸν ἐν λάκκῳ δίκαιον, λεόντων θράσος πεδήσαντα: ἢ τὴν τῶν ἑπτὰ Μακκαβαίων ἄθλησιν, σὺν ἱερεῖ καὶ μητρὶ τελειωθέντων ἐν αἵματι καὶ παντοίοις βασάνων εἴδεσιν. Ὧν ἐκεῖνος ζηλώσας τὴν καρτερίαν καὶ τὴν δόξαν ἠνέγκατο.