4 Maccabees 8

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

Seven Brothers Defy the Tyrant

8 For this is why even the very young, by following a philosophy in accordance with devout reason, have prevailed over the most painful instruments of torture. ² For when the tyrant was conspicuously defeated in his first attempt, being unable to compel an aged man to eat defiling foods, then in violent rage he commanded that others of the Hebrew captives be brought, and that any who ate defiling food would be freed after eating, but if any were to refuse, they would be tortured even more cruelly.

³ When the tyrant had given these orders, seven brothers—handsome, modest, noble, and accomplished in every way—were brought before him along with their aged mother. ⁴ When the tyrant saw them, grouped about their mother as though a chorus, he was pleased with them. And struck by their appearance and nobility, he smiled at them, and summoned them nearer and said, ⁵ ‘Young men, with favourable feelings I admire each and every one of you, and greatly respect the beauty and the number of such brothers. Not only do I advise you not to display the same madness as that of the old man who has just been tortured, but I also exhort you to yield to me and enjoy my friendship. ⁶ Just as I am able to punish those who disobey my orders, so I can be a benefactor to those who obey me. ⁷ Trust me, then, and you will have positions of authority in my government if you will renounce the ancestral tradition of your national life. ⁸ Enjoy your youth by adopting the Greek way of life and by changing your manner of living. ⁹ But if by disobedience you arouse my anger, you will compel me to destroy each and every one of you with dreadful punishments through tortures. ¹⁰ Therefore take pity on yourselves. Even I, your enemy, have compassion for your youth and handsome appearance. ¹¹ Will you not consider this, that if you disobey, nothing remains for you but to die on the rack?’

¹² When he had said these things, he ordered the instruments of torture to be brought forward so as to persuade them out of fear to eat the defiling food. ¹³ When the guards had placed before them wheels and joint-dislocators, rack and hooks^[a] and catapults^[b] and cauldrons, braziers and thumbscrews and iron claws and wedges and bellows, the tyrant resumed speaking: ¹⁴ ‘Be afraid, young fellows; whatever justice you revere will be merciful to you when you transgress under compulsion.’

¹⁵ But when they had heard the inducements and saw the dreadful devices, not only were they not afraid, but they also opposed the tyrant with their own philosophy, and by their right reasoning nullified his tyranny. ¹⁶ Let us consider, on the other hand, what arguments might have been used if some of them had been cowardly and unmanly. Would they not have been the following? ¹⁷ ‘O wretches that we are and so senseless! Since the king has summoned and exhorted us to accept kind treatment if we obey him, ¹⁸ why do we take pleasure in vain resolves and venture upon a disobedience that brings death? ¹⁹ O men and brothers, should we not fear the instruments of torture and consider the threats of torments, and give up this vain opinion and this arrogance that threatens to destroy us? ²⁰ Let us take pity on our youth and have compassion on our mother’s age; ²¹ and let us seriously consider that if we disobey we are dead! ²² Also, divine justice will excuse us for fearing the king when we are under compulsion. ²³ Why do we banish ourselves from this most pleasant life and deprive ourselves of this delightful world? ²⁴ Let us not struggle against compulsion^[c] or take hollow pride in being put to the rack. ²⁵ Not even the law itself would arbitrarily put us to death for fearing the instruments of torture. ²⁶ Why does such contentiousness excite us and such a fatal stubbornness please us, when we can live in peace if we obey the king?’

²⁷ But the youths, though about to be tortured, neither said any of these things nor even seriously considered them. ²⁸ For they were contemptuous of the emotions and sovereign over agonies, ²⁹ so that as soon as the tyrant had ceased counselling them to eat defiling food, all with one voice together, as from one mind, said: