but I can demonstrate it best from the noble bravery of those who died for the sake of virtue: Eleazar and the seven brothers and their mother.

Seven Brothers Defy the Tyrant

For this is why even the very young, by following a philosophy in accordance with pious reason, have prevailed over the most painful instruments of torture.

When the tyrant had given these orders, seven brothers—handsome, modest, noble, and accomplished in every way—were brought before him along with their aged mother.

“Young men, with favorable feelings I admire each and every one of you and greatly respect the beauty and the number of such brothers. Not only do I advise you not to display the same madness as that of the old man who has just been tortured, but I also exhort you to yield to me and enjoy my friendship.

O men and brothers, should we not fear the instruments of torture and consider the threats of torments and give up this vanity and this arrogance that threatens to destroy us?

The Torture of the First and Second Brothers

When they had said these things, the tyrant was not only indignant, as at those who are disobedient, but also infuriated, as at those who are ungrateful.

“Imitate me, brothers,” he said. “Do not leave your post in my struggle or renounce our courageous family ties.

The Torture of the Third and Fourth Brothers

When he, too, had endured a glorious death, the third was brought forward, and many repeatedly urged him to save himself by tasting the meat.

I do not renounce the noble kinship that binds me to my brothers.”

When he, too, had died in a manner worthy of his brothers, they dragged forward the fourth, saying,

“As for you, do not give way to the same insanity as your brothers, but obey the king and save yourself.”

No, by the blessed death of my brothers, by the eternal destruction of the tyrant, and by the everlasting life of the pious, I will not renounce our noble family ties.

The Torture of the Fifth and Sixth Brothers

When he, too, died, after being cruelly tortured, the fifth leaped up, saying,

“I am younger in age than my brothers, but I am their equal in mind.

While being tortured he said, “O contest befitting holiness, in which so many of us brothers have been summoned to an arena of sufferings for the sake of piety and in which we have not been defeated!

I also, equipped with nobility, will die with my brothers,

Even though the tyrant had been vehemently reproached by the brothers, he felt strong compassion for this child when he saw that he was already in fetters. He summoned him to come nearer and tried to persuade him, saying,

“You see the result of your brothers’ stupidity, for they died in torments because of their disobedience.

“I do not desert the excellent example of my brothers,

Reason’s Sovereignty in the Seven

Since, then, the seven brothers despised sufferings even unto death, everyone must concede that pious reason is sovereign over the passions.

The supremacy of the mind over these cannot be overlooked, for the brothers mastered both passions and pains.

“Brothers, let us die like brothers for the sake of the law; let us imitate the three youths in Assyria who despised the same ordeal of the furnace.

Those who were left behind said to each of the brothers who were being dragged away, “Do not put us to shame, brother, or betray the brothers who have died before us.”

There the brothers spent the same length of time and were shaped during the same period of time, and growing from the same blood and through the same life, they were brought to the light of day.

Therefore, when sympathy and brotherly affection had been so established, the seven brothers were the more sympathetic to one another.