an

And he replied, 'By noticing carefully the speaker, the thing spoken, and the subject under discussion, and by putting the same questions again after an interval in different forms. But to possess an alert mind and to be able to form a sound judgement in every case is one of the good gifts of God, and you possess it, O King.'

The king spent some time in praising this man and then asked the last of all, What is the greatest achievement in ruling an empire?

These results are achieved through the influence of the ruler, when he is a man who hates evil and loves the good and devotes his energies to saving the lives of men, just as you consider injustice the worst form of evil and by your just administration have fashioned for yourself an undying reputation, since God bestows upon you a mind which is pure and untainted by any evil.'

I was so impressed by the force of their utterances, that I made an effort to consult those whose business it was to make a record of all that happened at the royal audiences and banquets.

So all the host fell to their evening meal; but the king, being consumed with an intense thirst, though he had abundance of water, was unable to slake it.

Instead, an irrational desire for the water that was in the possession of the enemy with growing intensity burned him up and unmanned and consumed him.

Therefore, opposing his Reason to his desire, he poured out the water as an offering to God.

Our people were deeply angered by this announcement, and protested strongly, considering it, an outrageous thing for those who had entrusted their deposits to the temple treasury to be robbed of them, and they threw all possible obstacles in his way.

But Seleucus dying, his successor on the throne was his son Antiochus Epiphanes, an overweening terrible man; who dismissed Onias from his sacred office, and made his brother Jason high-priest instead, the condition being that in return for the appointment Jason should pay him three thousand six hundred and sixty talents yearly.

Wherefore the divine justice was kindled to anger and brought Antiochus himself as an enemy against us.

But the great-souled and noble man, an Eleazar in very truth, was no more moved in his mind than if he were being tormented in a dream; yea, the old man keeping his eyes steadfastly raised to heaven suffered his flesh to be tom by the scourges till he was bathed in blood and his sides became a mass of wounds; and even when he fell to the ground because his body could no longer support the pain he still kept his Reason erect and inflexible.

And yet most wonderful of all, he, being an old man, with the sinews of his body unstrung and his muscles relaxed and his nerves weakened, grew a young man again in the spirit of his Reason and with Isaac-like Reason turned the hydra-headed torture to impotence.

Assuredly, then, if an old man despised the torments unto death for righteousness' sake it must be admitted that the Inspired Reason is able to guide the passions.

For when the tyrant found himself notably defeated in his first attempt, and impotent to compel an old man to eat unclean meat, then truly in violent rage he ordered the guards to bring others of the young men of the Hebrews, and if they would eat unclean meat to release them after eating it, but if they refused, to torture them yet more savagely.

We six youths have overthrown thy tyranny. 'For is not thine impotence to alter our Reason or force us to eat unclean meat an overthrow for thee?

For which things the divine justice delivers thee unto a more rapid and an eternal fire and torments which shall not leave hold on thee to all eternity.

You are not ignorant of the love of brethren, whereof the divine and all-wise Providence has given an inheritance to those who are begotten though their fathers, implanting it in them even through the mother's womb; wherein brethren do dwell the like period, and take their form during the same time, and are nourished from the same blood, and are quickened with the same soul, and are brought into the world after the same space, and they draw milk from the same founts, whereby their fraternal souls are nursed together in arms at the breast; and they are knit yet closer through a common nurture and daily companionship and other education, and through our discipline under the Law of God.

O mother, that together with thy seven sons didst break the tyrant's force, and bring to nought his evil devices, and gavest an example of the nobleness of faith.

For when the tyrant Antiochus saw the heroism of their virtue, and their endurance under the tortures, he publicly held up their endurance to his soldiers as an example; and he thus inspired his men with a sense of honour and heroism on the field of battle and in the labours of besieging, so that he plundered and overthrew all his enemies.

A cloud of darkness shall fall on their eyes; and an air of thick gloom shall darken them:

An everlasting crown for ever is Truth. Blessed are they who set it on their heads:

And His thought was like a letter; His will descended from on high, and it was sent like an arrow which is violently shot from the bow:

Like a river which has an abundant fountain, and flows to the help of them that seek it. Hallelujah.

And drew to Him all those who obeyed Him; and there did not appear as it were an evil person.

And I did not make an error in anything because I obeyed the Truth.

And thou, vine, why further do you give your wine; For an offering will not again be made from there in Zion, Nor will first-fruits again be offered.

Bring to an end therefore henceforth mortality.

Because in that place where I am now prostrate, Of old the high priest offered holy sacrifices, And placed thereon an incense of fragrant odors.

And his principate will stand for ever, until the world of corruption is at an end, and until the times aforesaid are fulfilled.

You care for the number which pass away that they may be preserved, And you prepare an abode for those that are to be.

But those who have been saved by their works, And to whom the law has been now a hope, And understanding an expectation, And wisdom a confidence, Shall wonders appear in their time.

And I went forth and destroyed their multitude, the number of whose chiefs only was a hundred and eighty-five thousand, and each one of them had an equal number (at his command).

And he made an image with five faces: four of them looked to the four winds, and the fifth on the summit of the image as ah adversary of the zeal of the Mighty One.

Therefore he shall receive an eternal reward, and he shall be glorified with the Mighty One beyond many at a later time.

Nevertheless, do this for us your people: write also to our brethren in Babylon an epistle of doctrine and a scroll of hope, that you may confirm them also before you do depart from us.

And I wrote these two epistles: one I sent by an eagle to the nine and a half tribes; and the other I sent to those that were at Babylon by means of three men.

And they will make an utter end, unless Thou, O Lord, rebuke them in Thy wrath.

But they that fear the Lord shall rise to life eternal, And their life (shall be) in the light of the Lord, and shall come to an end no more.

His eyes are upon every woman without distinction; His tongue lieth when he maketh contract with an oath.

Let God remove those that live in hypocrisy in the company of the pious, (Even) the life of such an one with corruption of his flesh and penury.

Let God reveal the deeds of the men-pleasers, The deeds of such an one with laughter and derision;

The sound of much people as of an exceeding high wind, As a tempest with mighty fire sweeping through the Negeb.

They committed adultery, every man with his neighbor's wife. They concluded covenants with one another with an oath touching these things;

Being an alien the enemy acted proudly, And his heart was alien from our God.

With an abundance of bright-shining stars,

Many an evil. And fights, homicides,

An undecaying house I bid thee frame

An olive branch--of tidings a great sign.

There shall be an uprising; on the waves

Bring to an end a mighty sign for men,

And give his martyrs an immortal prize

For if thou kill an enemy thy hand

Commits a wrong, an evil man is he;

Making an end of fate shall raise the dead,

Enforced on all who had an evil heart,

An evil madness raving in their hearts,

There shall an evil come to pious men

An evil yoke, and her soil wet with rain

In Sparta an Erinys very fair,

And there shall be an aged mortal then,

Shall an AEtolian youth sometime despoil.

O sign of Cyprus, may an earthquake waste

The love of gain an evil shepherdess

To all rude people of an empty mind,

Do thou not let an evil meet with thee.

An arrogant and overbearing soul,

And fighting make an end of many men;

An evil conquest from behind, and Carians

Shalt thou, in manner like an alien, pray

To Solyma an evil blast of war

And then too shall an earthquake overthrow

And then there shall be an excess of war.

Receive all these things with an evil ear,

An end of his own race and stir all things,

An evil message, and an inspired song

An evil message, and an inspired song

Each one an idol, formed by mortal hands;

Their trophies for an age of evil men.

By an unholy hand, house ever flourishing,

But now an unseen and unholy king

An axle in the midst, and place for men

Propitiate God, but shall not make an end

To ashes. Thou shalt be no more an isle,

With chill ice thou shalt for an outrage pay,

O Thebans ill-advised, an evil sound

For you shall trumpet sound an evil sound

An instrument of wars and foe of peace

For men an equal light, but, bought with gold,

Is with the dead; but an eternity

An ancient queen with cities dwelling round,

When, taking thee by force, an ill-starred fate

And unto Rhodes shall come an evil last,

An evil conquest afterwards, And Egypt

An evil to the Persians for their pride,

An evil day of famine and of plague

And altogether then an impious age.

For of thorns is the crown an ornament

Making an end of fate and sting of death,

And an eternal creature was arranged

An evil strife. And then of mortal men