4 Maccabees 8:13-15

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

¹³ When the guards had placed before them wheels and joint-dislocators, rack and hooks^[a] and catapults^[b] and cauldrons, braziers and thumbscrews and iron claws and wedges and bellows, the tyrant resumed speaking: ¹⁴ ‘Be afraid, young fellows; whatever justice you revere will be merciful to you when you transgress under compulsion.’

¹⁵ But when they had heard the inducements and saw the dreadful devices, not only were they not afraid, but they also opposed the tyrant with their own philosophy, and by their right reasoning nullified his tyranny.