4 Maccabees 14:11-13

Revised Standard Version

An Encomium on the Mother of the Seven

¹¹ Do not consider it amazing that reason had full command over these men in their tortures, since the mind of woman despised even more diverse agonies, ¹² for the mother of the seven young men bore up under the rackings of each one of her children.

¹³ Observe how complex is a mother’s love for her children, which draws everything toward an emotion felt in her inmost parts.