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In Machabaeorum laudem

ORATION 15.

On the Maccabees.

A. But what of the Maccabees? for theirs is the present festival, not honoured by many, because their contest was not after Christ; but worthy to be honoured by all, because their endurance was for the sake of their ancestral laws. And those who bore witness before the sufferings of Christ, what would they not have done, had they been persecuted after Christ, and had His death for us to imitate? For if without such an example they were so great in virtue, how would they not have been shown to be even nobler, facing danger with the example? And at the same time, this is a certain mystical and secret doctrine, and very persuasive at least to me and to all who love God: that none of those who were perfected before the coming of Christ attained this without faith in Christ. For the Word was manifested later in His own time, but He was known even before to those who were pure in mind, 35.913 as is clear from many who were honoured before Him.

B. Therefore, not because they were before the Cross are such men to be overlooked; but because they were for the Cross, they are to be praised, and worthy of honour from our words; not that they might receive addition or glory; (for what glory can words add to that which their deeds possess?) but that those who praise them may be glorified, and that those who hear may emulate their virtue, being roused to like deeds as by the goad of their memory. Who these men were, and from where, and from what sort of upbringing and education they started, to have advanced to such a height of virtue and glory, so as to be honoured even by these annual processions and festivals, and to have a glory concerning them greater than what is seen laid up in the souls of all, the book about them will declare to the studious and industrious, the one which philosophizes about reason being the master of the passions, and lord of the inclination to both, I mean both virtue and vice. For it used not a few other testimonies, and indeed also the contests of these men; but for me it will be enough to say this much.

C. Here is Eleazar, the firstfruits of those who suffered before Christ, just as Stephen was of those after Christ, a man who was a priest and an elder, grey in hair, grey in wisdom; formerly both sacrificing on behalf of the people and praying, but now also offering himself to God as a most perfect victim, a purification for all the people, a favourable prelude to the contest, an exhortation both speaking and silent; offering also his seven sons, the results of his own teaching, a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, more splendid and purer than any legal rite. For that the deeds of the sons should be reckoned to the father is among the most lawful and just of things. There were noble and 35.916 great-souled sons, noble offspring of a noble mother, ambitious contenders for the truth, loftier than the times of Antiochus, genuine disciples of the law of Moses, exact keepers of the ancestral customs, a number praised among the Hebrews, honoured by the mystery of the weekly rest, breathing one spirit, looking to one thing, knowing one way of life, death for God, no less brothers in their souls than in their bodies, vying with one another for their end, (O the wonder!) snatching beforehand at the tortures as if they were treasures, facing danger for their tutor, the law, not fearing the tortures brought before them so much as desiring those that remained; fearing this one thing only, lest he should give up

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In Machabaeorum laudem

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΙΕʹ.

Εἰς τοὺς Μακκαβαίους.

Αʹ. Τί δὲ οἱ Μακκαβαῖοι; τούτων γὰρ ἡ παροῦσα πανήγυρις, οὐ παρὰ πολλοῖς μὲν τιμωμένων, ὅτι μὴ μετὰ Χριστὸν ἡ ἄθλησις· πᾶσι δὲ τιμᾶσθαι ἀξίων, ὅτι περὶ τῶν πατρίων ἡ καρτερία· καὶ οἱ πρὸ τῶν Χριστοῦ παθῶν μαρτυρήσαντες, τί ποτε δράσειν ἔμελλον μετὰ Χριστὸν διωκόμενοι, καὶ τὸν ἐκείνου ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν μιμούμενοι θάνατον; Οἱ γὰρ χωρὶς ὑποδείγματος τοιούτου, τοσοῦτοι τὴν ἀρετὴν, πῶς οὐκ ἂν ὤφθησαν γενναιότεροι, μετὰ τοῦ ὑποδείγματος κινδυνεύοντες; Καὶ ἅμα μυστικός τις καὶ ἀπόῤῥητος οὗτος ὁ λόγος, καὶ σφόδρα πιθανὸς ἐμοὶ γοῦν καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς φιλοθέοις· μηδένα τῶν πρὸ τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας τελειωθέντων, δίχα τῆς εἰς Χρι στὸν πίστεως τούτου τυχεῖν. Ὁ γὰρ Λόγος ἐπ αῤῥησιάσθη μὲν ὕστερον καιροῖς ἰδίοις, ἐγνωρίσθη δὲ καὶ πρότερον τοῖς καθαροῖς τὴν διά 35.913 νοιαν. ὡς ἐκ πολλῶν δῆλον τῶν πρὸ ἐκείνου τετιμη μένων.

Βʹ. Οὔκουν, ὅτι πρὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ, τοιοῦτοι περι οπτέοι· ἀλλ' ὅτι κατὰ τὸν σταυρὸν, ἐπαινετέοι, καὶ τῆς ἐκ τῶν λόγων τιμῆς ἄξιοι· οὐχ ἵνα προσθή κην ἢ δόξαν λάβοιεν· (τίνα γὰρ ὧν ἡ πρᾶξις ἔχει τὸ ἔνδοξον;) ἀλλ' ἵνα δοξασθῶσιν οἱ εὐφημοῦντες, καὶ ζηλώσωσι τὴν ἀρετὴν οἱ ἀκούοντες, ὥσπερ κέντρῳ τῇ μνήμῃ πρὸς τὰ ἴσα διανιστάμενοι. Οὗτοι τίνες μὲν ὄντες, καὶ ὅθεν, καὶ ἐξ οἵας ὁρμώμενοι τὸ ἀπαρ χῆς ἀγωγῆς καὶ παιδεύσεως, εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀρετῆς τε καὶ δόξης προεληλύθασιν, ὥστε καὶ ταῖς ἐτη σίοις ταύταις τιμᾶσθαι πομπαῖς τε καὶ πανηγύρεσι, καὶ μείζονα τῶν ὁρωμένων τὴν περὶ αὐτῶν δόξαν ἐν αποκεῖσθαι ταῖς ἁπάντων ψυχαῖς, ἡ περὶ αὐτῶν βί βλος δηλώσει τοῖς φιλομαθέσι καὶ φιλοπόνοις, ἡ περὶ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορα εἶναι τῶν παθῶν τὸν λογισμὸν φιλοσοφοῦσα, καὶ κύριον τῆς ἐπ' ἄμφω ῥοπῆς, ἀρετήν τέ φημι καὶ κακίαν. Ἄλλοις τε γὰρ οὐκ ὀλίγοις ἐχρήσατο μαρτυρίοις, καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῖς τούτων ἀθλήμασιν· ἐμοὶ δὲ τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν ἐξαρκέσει.

Γʹ. Ἐλεάζαρ ἐνταῦθα, τῶν πρὸ Χριστοῦ παθόντων ἡ ἀπαρχὴ, ὥσπερ τῶν μετὰ Χριστὸν Στέφανος, ἀνὴρ ἱερεὺς καὶ πρεσβύτης, πολιὸς τὴν τρίχα, πολιὸς τὴν φρόνησιν· πρότερον μὲν καὶ προθυό μενος τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ προσευχόμενος, νῦν δὲ καὶ τε λεώτατον θῦμα προσάγων ἑαυτὸν τῷ Θεῷ, παν τὸς τοῦ λαοῦ καθάρσιον, προοίμιον ἀθλήσεως δεξιὸν, καὶ φθεγγομένη καὶ σιωπῶσα παραίνεσις· προσάγων δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ παῖδας, τὰ τῆς ἑαυ τοῦ παιδείας ἀποτελέσματα, θυσίαν ζῶσαν, ἁγίαν, εὐάρεστον τῷ Θεῷ, πάσης νομικῆς ἱερουργίας λαμπροτέραν τε καὶ καθαρωτέραν. Τὰ γὰρ τῶν παί δων, τῷ πατρὶ λογίζεσθαι, τῶν ἐννομωτάτων τε καὶ δικαιωτάτων. Παῖδες ἐκεῖ γενναῖοι καὶ με 35.916 γαλόψυχοι, μητρὸς εὐγενοῦς εὐγενῆ βλαστήματα, φι λότιμοι τῆς ἀληθείας ἀγωνισταὶ, τῶν Ἀντιόχου καιρῶν ὑψηλότεροι, τοῦ Μωϋσέως νόμου μαθη ταὶ γνήσιοι, τῶν πατρίων ἐθῶν ἀκριβεῖς φύλακες ἀριθμὸς τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις ἐπαινουμένων, τῷ τῆς ἑβδοματικῆς ἀναπαύσεως μυστηρίῳ τιμώ μενος, ἓν πνέοντες, πρὸς ἓν βλέποντες, μίαν ζωῆς ὁδὸν εἰδότες, τὸν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Θεοῦ θάνατον, οὐχ ἧττον ἀδελφοὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἢ τὰ σώματα, ζηλοτυ ποῦντες ἀλλήλους τῆς τελευτῆς, (ὢ τοῦ θαύμα τος!) προαρπάζοντες ὥσπερ θησαυροὺς τὰς βασά νους, τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ νόμου προκινδυνεύοντες, οὐ τὰς προσαγομένας τῶν βασάνων μᾶλλον φοβούμενοι, ἢ τὰς λειπομένας ἐπιζητοῦντες· ἓν τοῦτο φοβούμενοι μόνον, μὴ ἀπείπῃ