Brenton's Septuagint · Under the Greeks
4 Maccabees 7
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1The reasoning of , like a first-rate pilot, steering the of piety in the sea of passions, 2and flouted by the threats of the tyrant, and overwhelmed with the breakers of torture, 3in no way shifted the rudder of piety till it sailed into the harbour of victory over . 4Not so has ever a city, when besieged, held out against many and various machines, as did that man, when his pious was tried with the of tortures and rackings, move his besiegers through the religious reasoning that shielded him. 5For , projecting his disposition, broke the raging waves of the passions as with a jutting promontory. 6O priest, worthy of the priesthood! thou didst not pollute thy sacred teeth; nor make thy appetite, which had always embraced the clean and lawful, a partaker of profanity. 7O harmonizer with , and sage devoted to a divine life! 8Of such a character ought those to be who perform the duties of at the risk of their own , and defend it with generous sweat by sufferings even unto . 9Thou, , hast gloriously established our right government by thy ; and making of much account our past, prevented its , and, by thy deeds, hast made credible the words of philosophy. 10O aged man of more than tortures, elder more vigorous than , greatest king over the passions, ! 11For as , armed with a censer, hastening through the , vanquished the flame-bearing , 12so , the descendant of , wasted away by the , did not give up his reasoning. 13And, what is most wonderful, though an old man, though the labours of his body were now spent, and his fibres were relaxed, and his sinews worn out, he recovered youth. 14By of reasoning, and the reasoning of , he rendered powerless the many-headed instrument. 15O old age, and reverend hoar head, and life obedient to , which the seal of perfected. 16If, then, an old man, through religion, despised tortures even unto , confessedly religious reasoning is ruler of the passions. 17But perhaps some might say, It is not all who conquer passions, as all do not possess reasoning. 18But they who have meditated upon religion with their , these alone can master the passions of : 19they who that to they not; for, as our forefathers, , , , they live to . 20This circumstance, then, is by no means an objection, that some who have weak reasoning, are governed by their passions: 21since what person, walking religiously by the whole rule of philosophy, and believing in , 22and knowing that it is a thing to all kinds of hardships for virtue, would not, for the sake of religion, master his passion? 23For and brave man only is over his passions. 24Whence it is, that even boys, imbued with the philosophy of religious reasoning, have conquered still more bitter tortures: 25for when the tyrant was manifestly vanquished in his first attempt, in being unable to force the old man to eat the thing,—
Sir Lancelot Brenton's 1851 English translation of the Greek Old Testament, public domain. Used here for books received in Orthodox canons that the other editions do not carry. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under the Greeks, 332 BC to 63 BC ›
Alexander's conquest and the kingdoms of his successors. Greek language and custom press in everywhere, and the crisis under Antiochus IV provokes the Maccabean revolt.
- The successors
- Alexander dies at thirty-two and his generals carve up the empire. Judea sits on the border between the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria, and is fought over by both for a century and a half, which is the ordinary condition of the corridor.
- Hellenism
- Not just conquest but a culture: the gymnasium, the theatre, Greek names, Greek dress, Greek as the language of anyone with ambitions. Some Jews embraced it, some resisted it, and the argument between them is the real subject of the Maccabean books. In Alexandria the Hebrew scriptures are translated into Greek, producing the Septuagint, which is the Bible most New Testament writers quote.
- The crisis
- Antiochus IV bans the practice of Judaism, plunders the temple, and sets up a pagan altar in it in 167 BC. The revolt under the Maccabees wins, the temple is rededicated in 164 BC, which is the origin of Hanukkah, and Judea has about eighty years of independence under the Hasmoneans before Rome arrives.
- Further afield
- Rome fights Carthage three times and ends up master of the Mediterranean. Euclid writes the Elements and Archimedes does his work at Syracuse. In China the Qin unify the country in 221 BC and the Han follow, opening what becomes the Silk Road.