4 Maccabees 11

And when he had died, disfigured in his torments, the fifth leaped forward, and said,

Ως δὲ καὶ οὗτος ταῖς βασάνοις καταικισθεὶς ἐναπέθανεν, ὁ πέμπτος παρεπήδησε λέγων·

I intend not, O tyrant, to get excused from the torment which is in behalf of virtue.

οὐ μέλλω, τύραννε, πρὸς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς βασανισμὸν παραιτεῖσθαι,

But I have come of mine own accord, that by the death of me, you may owe heavenly vengeance a punishment for more crimes.

αὐτὸς δ’ ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ παρῆλθον, ὅπως κἀμὲ κατακτείνας περὶ πλειόνων ἀδικημάτων ὀφειλήσῃς τῇ οὐρανίῳ δίκῃ τιμωρίαν.

O thou hater of virtue and of men, what have we done that thou thus revellest in our blood?

ᾦ μισάρετε καὶ μισάνθρωπε, τί δράσαντας ἡμᾶς τοῦτον πορθεῖς τὸν τρόπον;

Does it seem evil to thee that we worship the Founder of all things, and live according to his surpassing law?

ἢ κακόν σοι δοκεῖ ὅτι τὸν πάντων κτίστην εὐσεβοῦμεν καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἐνάρετον αὐτοῦ ζῶμεν νόμον;

But this is worthy of honours, not torments;

ἀλλὰ ταῦτα τιμῶν, οὐ βασάνων ἐστὶν ἄξια.

hadst thou been capable of the higher feelings of men, and possessed the hope of salvation from God.

εἴπερ ᾐσθάνου ἀνθρώπου πόθον καὶ ἐλπίδα εἶχες παρὰ Θεῷ σωτηρίου·

Behold now, being alien from God, thou makest war against those who are religious toward God.

νυνὶ δὲ ἀλλότριος ὢν Θεοῦ πολεμεῖς τοὺς εὐσεβοῦντας εἰς τὸν Θεόν.

As he said this, the spearbearers bound him, and drew him to the catapult:

τοιαῦτα δὲ λέγοντα οἱ δορυφόροι δήσαντες αὐτὸν εἷλκον ἐπὶ τὸν καταπέλτην,

to which binding him at his knees, and fastening them with iron fetters, they bent down his loins upon the wedge of the wheel; and his body was then dismembered, scorpion-fashion.

ἐφ’ ὃν δήσαντες αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὰ γόνατα καὶ ταῦτα ποδάγραις σιδηραῖς ἐφαρμόσαντες τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ περὶ τροχιαῖον σφῆνα κατέκαμψαν, περὶ ὃν ὅλος περὶ τὸν τροχὸν σκορπίου τρόπον ἀνακλώμενος ἐξεμελίζετο.

With his breath thus confined, and his body strangled, he said,

κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα στενοχωρούμενος καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀγχόμενος,

A great favour thou bestowest upon us, O tyrant, by enabling us to manifest our adherence to the law by means of nobler sufferings.

καλάς, ἔλεγεν, ἄκων, ᾦ τύραννε, χάριτας ἡμῖν χαρίζῃ διὰ γενναιοτέρων πόνων ἐπιδείξασθαι παρέχων τὴν εἰς τὸν νόμον ἡμῶν καρτερίαν. -

He also being dead, the sixth, quite a youth, was brought out; and on the tyrant asking him whether he would eat and be delivered, he said,

Τελευτήσαντος δὲ καὶ τούτου, ὁ ἕκτος ἤγετο μειρακίσκος, ὃς πυνθανομένου τοῦ τυράννου εἰ βούλοιτο φαγὼν ἀπολύεσθαι, ὁ δὲ ἔφη·

I am indeed younger than my brothers, but in understanding I am am as old;

ἐγὼ τῇ μὲν ἡλικίᾳ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μού εἰμι νεώτερος, τῇ δὲ διανοίᾳ ἡλικιώτης·

for having been born and reared unto the same end, we are bound to die also in behalf of the same cause.

εἰς τὰ αὐτὰ γὰρ καὶ γεννηθέντες καὶ τραφέντες, ὑπὲρ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀποθνήσκειν ὀφείλομεν ὁμοίως·

So that if ye think proper to torment us for not eating the unclean;--torment!

ὥστε εἰ σοὶ δοκεῖ βασανίζειν μὴ μιαροφαγοῦντα, βασάνιζε.

As he said this, they brought him to the wheel.

ταῦτα αὐτὸν εἰπόντα παρῆγον ἐπὶ τὸν τροχόν,

Extended upon which, with limbs racked and dislocated, he was gradually roasted from beneath.

ἐφ’ οὗ κατατεινόμενος ἐκμελῶς καὶ ἐκσπονδυλιζόμενος ὑπεκαίετο.

And having heated sharp spits, they approached them to his back; and having transfixed his sides, they burned away his entrails.

καὶ ὀβελίσκους δὲ ὀξεῖς πυρώσαντες, τοῖς νώτοις προσέφερον καὶ τὰ πλευρὰ διαπείραντες αὐτοῦ τὰ σπλάγχνα διέκαιον.

And he, while tormented, said, O period good and holy, in which, for the sake of religion, we brethren have been called to the contest of pain, and have not been conquered.

ὁ δὲ βασανιζόμενος, ὦ ἱεροπρεποῦς ἀγῶνος, ἔλεγεν, ἐφ’ ὃν διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν εἰς γυμνασίαν πόνων ἀδελφοὶ τοσοῦτοι κληθέντες οὐκ ἐνικήθημεν.

For religious understanding, O tyrant, is unconquered.

ἀνίκητος γάρ ἐστιν, ὦ τύραννε, ἡ εὐσεβὴς ἐπιστήμη.

Armed with upright virtue, I also shall depart with my brethren.

καλοκἀγαθίᾳ καθωπλισμένος τεθνήξομαι μὲν κἀγὼ μετὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου,

I, too, bearing with me a great avenger, O deviser of tortures, and enemy of the truly pious.

σὺ δέ, ὦ τύραννε, μέγαν σοὶ προσλαβὼν καὶ αὐτὸς τιμωρόν, καινουργὲ τῶν βασάνων καὶ πολέμιε τῶν ἀληθῶς εὐσεβούντων

We six youths have destroyed thy tyranny.

ἓξ μειράκια καταλελύκαμέν σου τὴν τυραννίδα·

For is not your inability to overrule our reasoning, and to compel us to eat the unclean, thy destruction?

τὸ γὰρ μὴ δυνηθῆναί σε μεταπεῖσαι τὸν λογισμὸν ἡμῶν μήτε βιάσασθαι πρὸς τὴν μιαροφαγίαν οὐ κατάλυσίς ἐστί σου;

Your fire is cold to us, your catapults are painless, and your violence harmless.

τὸ πῦρ σου ψυχρὸν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἄπονοι οἱ καταπέλται, καὶ ἀδύνατος ἡ βία σου.

For the guards not of a tyrant but of a divine law are our defenders: through this we keep our reasoning unconquered.

οὐ γὰρ τυράννου, ἀλλὰ θείου νόμου προεστήκασιν ἡμῶν οἱ δορυφόροι· διὰ τοῦτο ἀνίκητον ἔχομεν τὸν λογισμόν.