| 7 μεταλλάξαντος δὲ τοῦ πρώτου τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον τὸν δεύτερον ἦγον ἐπὶ τὸν ἐμπαιγμὸν καὶ τὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς δέρμα σὺν ταῖς θριξὶν περισύραντες ἐπηρώτων εἰ φάγεσαι πρὸ τοῦ τιμωρηθῆναι τὸ σῶμα κατὰ μέλος 8 ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς τῇ πατρίῳ φωνῇ προσεῖπεν οὐχί διόπερ καὶ οὗτος τὴν ἑξῆς ἔλαβεν βάσανον ὡς ὁ πρῶτος 9 ἐν ἐσχάτῃ δὲ πνοῇ γενόμενος εἶπεν σὺ μέν ἀλάστωρ ἐκ τοῦ παρόντος ἡμᾶς ζῆν ἀπολύεις ὁ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου βασιλεὺς ἀποθανόντας ἡμᾶς ὑπὲρ τῶν αὐτοῦ νόμων εἰς αἰώνιον ἀναβίωσιν ζωῆς ἡμᾶς ἀναστήσει 10 μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ὁ τρίτος ἐνεπαίζετο καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν αἰτηθεὶς ταχέως προέβαλεν καὶ τὰς χεῖρας εὐθαρσῶς προέτεινεν 11 καὶ γενναίως εἶπεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ταῦτα κέκτημαι καὶ διὰ τοὺς αὐτοῦ νόμους ὑπερορῶ ταῦτα καὶ πα{R'} αὐτοῦ ταῦτα πάλιν ἐλπίζω κομίσασθαι 12 ὥστε αὐτὸν τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ ἐκπλήσσεσθαι τὴν τοῦ νεανίσκου ψυχήν ὡς ἐν οὐδενὶ τὰς ἀλγηδόνας ἐτίθετο 13 καὶ τούτου δὲ μεταλλάξαντος τὸν τέταρτον ὡσαύτως ἐβασάνιζον αἰκιζόμενοι 14 καὶ γενόμενος πρὸς τὸ τελευτᾶν οὕτως ἔφη αἱρετὸν μεταλλάσσοντας ὑ{P'} ἀνθρώπων τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ προσδοκᾶν ἐλπίδας πάλιν ἀναστήσεσθαι ὑ{P'} αὐτοῦ σοὶ μὲν γὰρ ἀνάστασις εἰς ζωὴν οὐκ ἔσται 15 ἐχομένως δὲ τὸν πέμπτον προσάγοντες ᾐκίζοντο 16 ὁ δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἰδὼν εἶπεν ἐξουσίαν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἔχων φθαρτὸς ὢν ὃ θέλεις ποιεῖς μὴ δόκει δὲ τὸ γένος ἡμῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καταλελεῖφθαι 17 σὺ δὲ καρτέρει καὶ θεώρει τὸ μεγαλεῖον αὐτοῦ κράτος ὡς σὲ καὶ τὸ σπέρμα σου βασανιεῖ 18 μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ἦγον τὸν ἕκτον καὶ μέλλων ἀποθνῄσκειν ἔφη μὴ πλανῶ μάτην ἡμεῖς γὰρ δ{I'} ἑαυτοὺς ταῦτα πάσχομεν ἁμαρτόντες εἰς τὸν ἑαυτῶν θεόν ἄξια θαυμασμοῦ γέγονεν 19 σὺ δὲ μὴ νομίσῃς ἀθῷος ἔσεσθαι θεομαχεῖν ἐπιχειρήσας |
7 So died the first, and now the second must make sport for them. When the hair was torn from his head and the skin with it, they asked, Would he eat, or must his whole body pay for it, limb by limb? 8 And he answered in good round Hebrew,[2] eat he would not; whereupon he, in his turn, suffered like the first. 9 Ay, miscreant, he said with his last breath, of this present life it lies in thy power to rob us; but he, who is ruler of the whole world, he, for whose laws we perish, will raise us up again, and to life everlasting. 10 And now they had their will with the third, who was no sooner bidden than he put forth tongue and hands very courageously; 11 Heaven’s gift these be, he said, and for God’s law I make light account of them, well assured he will give them back to me. 12 Well might they marvel, king and courtiers both, at one so young that recked so little of his sufferings. 13 Such was the manner of his passing; the fourth, too, when with like tortures they assailed him, 14 died with these words on his lips: Man’s sentence of death, what matters it, so there be hope in God, that shall raise up the dead? For thee, resurrection to new life shall be none. 15 And when the fifth was put to the question, he looked Antiochus in the face, thus warning him: 16 Mortal, at thy own whim free to govern thy fellow men, think not God has abandoned this race of ours! 17 Wait but a little, and good proof thou shalt have of his sovereign power, such torment thee and thine awaits. 18 So they came to the sixth, and this was his dying utterance: Never flatter thyself with vain hope; speed we amiss, it was our own doing, that sinned against our God. Strange be his dealings with us, 19 yet think not thou to defy God unpunished. |
7 Mortuo itaque illo primo hoc modo, sequentem deducebant ad illudendum: et cute capitis ejus cum capillis abstracta, interrogabant si manducaret, priusquam toto corpore per membra singula puniretur. 8 At ille respondens patria voce, dixit: Non faciam. Propter quod et iste, sequenti loco, primi tormenta suscepit: 9 et in ultimo spiritu constitutus, sic ait: Tu quidem scelestissime in præsenti vita nos perdis: sed Rex mundi defunctos nos pro suis legibus in æternæ vitæ resurrectione suscitabit. 10 Post hunc tertius illuditur, et linguam postulatus cito protulit, et manus constanter extendit: 11 et cum fiducia ait: E cælo ista possideo, sed propter Dei leges nunc hæc ipsa despicio, quoniam ab ipso me ea recepturum spero: 12 ita ut rex, et qui cum ipso erant, mirarentur adolescentis animum, quod tamquam nihilum duceret cruciatus. 13 Et hoc ita defuncto, quartum vexabant similiter torquentes. 14 Et cum jam esset ad mortem, sic ait: Potius est ab hominibus morti datos spem exspectare a Deo, iterum ab ipso resuscitandos: tibi enim resurrectio ad vitam non erit. 15 Et cum admovissent quintum, vexabant eum. At ille respiciens in eum, 16 dixit: Potestatem inter homines habens, cum sis corruptibilis, facis quod vis: noli autem putare genus nostrum a Deo esse derelictum: 17 tu autem patienter sustine, et videbis magnam potestatem ipsius, qualiter te et semen tuum torquebit. 18 Post hunc ducebant sextum, et is, mori incipiens, sic ait: Noli frustra errare: nos enim propter nosmetipsos hæc patimur, peccantes in Deum nostrum, et digna admiratione facta sunt in nobis: 19 tu autem ne existimes tibi impune futurum, quod contra Deum pugnare tentaveris. |