Brenton's Septuagint · Under the Greeks
4 Maccabees 8
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1Then, indeed, vehemently swayed with passion, he commanded to bring others of the adult , and if they would eat of the thing, to let them go when they had eaten; but if they objected, to torment them more grievously. 2The tyrant having given this charge, seven brethren were brought into his , along with their aged mother, handsome, and modest, and well-born, and altogether comely. 3Whom, when the tyrant beheld, encircling their mother as in a dance, he was pleased at them; and being struck with their becoming and ingenuous mien, smiled upon them, and calling them near, said, 4O youths, with favourable feelings, I admire the beauty of each of you; and greatly honouring so numerous a band of brethren, I not only you not to share the madness of the old man who has been tortured before, 5but I do beg you to yield, and to enjoy my friendship; for I possess the , not only of punishing those who disobey my commands, but of doing good to those who them. 6Put confidence in me, then, and you shall receive places of in my government, if you forsake your national , 7and, conforming to the mode of life, alter your rule, and revel in youth's delights. 8For if you provoke me by your , you will compel me to destroy you, every one, with terrible punishments by tortures. 9Have mercy, then, upon your own selves, whom I, although an enemy, for your age and comeliness. 10Will you not reason upon this—that if you disobey, there will be nothing left for you but to in tortures? 11Thus speaking, he ordered the instruments of torture to be brought forward, that very fear might prevail upon them to eat meat. 12And when the spearman brought forward the wheels, and the racks, and hooks, and catapeltæ, and caldrons, pans, and finger-racks, and iron hands, and wedges, and bellows, the tyrant continued: 13Fear, young men, and the which ye will be merciful to you if you err from compulsion. 14Now they having listened to these words of persuasion, and seeing the fearful instruments, not only were not afraid, but even answered the arguments of the tyrant, and through their good reasoning destroyed his . 15Now let us consider the matter: had any of them been weak-spirited and cowardly among them, what reasonings would they have employed but such as these? 16O wretched that we are, and exceeding senseless! when the king exhorts us, and calls us to his bounty, should we not him? 17Why do we cheer ourselves with counsels, and venture upon a bringing ? 18Shall we not fear, O brethren, the instruments of torture, and weigh the threatenings of torment, and shun this - and destructive pride? 19Let us have upon our age and relent over the years of our mother. 20And let us bear in that we shall be dying as rebels. 21And Divine Justice will pardon us if we fear the king through necessity. 22Why withdraw ourselves from a most sweet life, and deprive ourselves of this pleasant world? 23Let us not oppose necessity, nor seek - by our own excruciation. 24 itself is not forward to put us to , if we dread torture. 25Whence has such angry taken root in us, and such fatal obstinacy approved itself to us, when we might live unmolested by giving ear to the king? 26But nothing of this kind did the young men say or think when about to be tortured. 27For they were well aware of the sufferings, and masters of the pains. So that as soon as the tyrant had ceased counselling them to eat the , they altogether with one voice, as from the same , said:
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.