top 4 Maccabees ch 5

Chapter 5

Verses: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38]
1 Προκαθίσας γέ τοι μετὰ τῶν συνέδρων ὁ τύραννος Ἀντίοχος ἐπί τινος ὑψηλοῦ τόπου καὶ τῶν στρατευμάτων αὐτῷ παρεστηκότων κυκλόθεν ἐνόπλων 1 The tyrant Antiochus, therefore, sitting in public state with his assessors upon a certain lofty place, with his armed troops standing in a circle around him,
2 παρεκέλευεν τοῖς δορυφόροις ἕνα ἕκαστον Ἑβραῖον ἐπισπᾶσθαι καὶ κρεῶν ὑείων καὶ εἰδωλοθύτων ἀναγκάζειν ἀπογεύεσθαι· 2 commanded his spearbearers to seize every one of the Hebrews, and to compel them to taste swine’s flesh, and things offered to idols.
3 εἰ δέ τινες μὴ θέλοιεν μιαροφαγῆσαι, τούτους τροχισθέντας ἀναιρεθῆναι. 3 And should any of them be unwilling to eat the accursed food, they were to be tortured on the wheel, and so killed.
4 πολλῶν δὲ συναρπασθέντων εἷς πρῶτος ἐκ τῆς ἀγέλης ὀνόματι Ἐλεάζαρος, τὸ γένος ἱερεύς, τὴν ἐπιστήμην νομικὸς καὶ τὴν ἡλικίαν προήκων καὶ πολλοῖς τῶν περὶ τὸν τύραννον διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν γνώριμος, παρήχθη πλησίον αὐτοῦ. 4 And when many had been seized, a foremost man of the assembly, a Hebrew, by name Eleazar, a priest by family, by profession a lawyer, and advanced in years, and for this reason known to many of the king’s followers, was brought near to him.
5 καὶ αὐτὸν ἰδὼν ὁ Ἀντίοχος ἔφη 5 And Antiochus seeing him, said,
6 ἐγὼ πρὶν ἄρξασθαι τῶν κατὰ σοῦ βασάνων, ὦ πρεσβῦτα, συμβουλεύσαιμ ἄν σοὶ ταῦτα, ὅπως ἀπογευσάμενος τῶν ὑείων σῴζοιο· 6 I would counsel thee, old man, before thy tortures begin, to tasted the swine’s flesh, and save your life; for I feel respect for your age and hoary head, which since you have had so long, you appear to me to be no philosopher in retaining the superstition of the Jews.
7 αἰδοῦμαι γάρ σου τὴν ἡλικίαν καὶ τὴν πολιάν, ἣν μετὰ τοσοῦτον ἔχων χρόνον οὔ μοι δοκεῖς φιλοσοφεῖν τῇ Ἰουδαίων χρώμενος θρησκείᾳ. 7 For wherefore, since nature has conferred upon you the most excellent flesh of this animal, do you loathe it?
8 διὰ τί γὰρ τῆς φύσεως κεχαρισμένης καλλίστην τὴν τοῦδε τοῦ ζῴου σαρκοφαγίαν βδελύττῃ; 8 It seems senseless not to enjoy what is pleasant, yet not disgraceful; and from notions of sinfulness, to reject the boons of nature.
9 καὶ γὰρ ἀνόητον τοῦτο, τὸ μὴ ἀπολαύειν τῶν χωρὶς ὀνείδους ἡδέων, καὶ ἄδικον ἀποστρέφεσθαι τὰς τῆς φύσεως χάριτας. 9 And you will be acting, I think, still more senselessly, if you follow vain conceits about the truth.
10 σὺ δέ μοι καὶ ἀνοητότερον ποιήσειν δοκεῖς, εἰ κενοδοξῶν περὶ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἔτι κἀμοῦ καταφρονήσεις ἐπὶ τῇ ἰδίᾳ τιμωρίᾳ. 10 And you will, moreover, be despising me to your own punishment.
11 οὐκ ἐξυπνώσεις ἀπὸ τῆς φλυάρου φιλοσοφίας ὑμῶν καὶ ἀποσκεδάσεις τῶν λογισμῶν σου τὸν λῆρον καὶ ἄξιον τῆς ἡλικίας ἀναλαβὼν νοῦν φιλοσοφήσεις τὴν τοῦ συμφέροντος ἀλήθειαν 11 Will you not awake from your trifling philosophy? and give up the folly of your notions; and, regaining understanding worthy of your age, search into the truth of an expedient course?
12 καὶ προσκυνήσας μου τὴν φιλάνθρωπον παρηγορίαν οἰκτιρήσεις τὸ σεαυτοῦ γῆρας; 12 and, reverencing my kindly admonition, have pity upon your own years?
13 καὶ γὰρ ἐνθυμήθητι ὡς, εἰ καί τίς ἐστιν τῆσδε τῆς θρησκείας ὑμῶν ἐποπτικὴ δύναμις, συγγνωμονήσειεν ἄν σοὶ ἐπὶ πάσῃ δι᾿ ἀνάγκην παρανομίᾳ γινομένῃ. 13 For, bear in mind, that if there be any power which watches over this religion of yours, it will pardon you for all transgressions of the law which you commit through compulsion.
14 τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐπὶ τὴν ἔκθεσμον σαρκοφαγίαν ἐποτρύνοντος τοῦ τυράννου λόγον ᾔτησεν ὁ Ἐλεάζαρος 14 While the tyrant incited him in this manner to the unlawful eating of flesh, Eleazar begged permission to speak.
15 καὶ λαβὼν τοῦ λέγειν ἐξουσίαν ἤρξατο δημηγορεῖν οὕτως 15 And having received power to speak, he began thus to deliver himself:
16 ἡμεῖς, Ἀντίοχε, θείῳ πεπεισμένοι νόμῳ πολιτεύεσθαι οὐδεμίαν ἀνάγκην βιαιοτέραν εἶναι νομίζομεν τῆς πρὸς τὸν νόμον ἡμῶν εὐπειθείας· 16 We, O Antiochus, who are persuaded that we live under a divine law, consider no compulsion to be so forcible as obedience to that law;
17 διὸ δὴ κατ᾿ οὐδένα τρόπον παρανομεῖν ἀξιοῦμεν. 17 wherefore we consider that we ought not in any point to transgress the law.
18 καίτοι εἰ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν μὴ ἦν ὁ νόμος ἡμῶν, ὡς ὑπολαβόντες, θεῖος, ἄλλως δὲ ἐνομίζομεν αὐτὸν εἶναι θεῖον, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐξὸν ἦν ἡμῖν τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ δόξαν ἀκυρῶσαι. 18 And indeed, were our law (as you suppose) not truly divine, and if we wrongly think it divine, we should have no right even in that case to destroy our sense of religion.
19 μὴ μικρὰν οὖν εἶναι νομίσῃς ταύτην, εἰ μιαροφαγήσαιμεν, ἁμαρτίαν· 19 think not eating the unclean, then, a trifling offense.
20 τὸ γὰρ ἐπὶ μικροῖς καὶ μεγάλοις παρανομεῖν ἰσοδύναμόν ἐστιν, 20 For transgression of the law, whether in small or great matters, is of equal moment;
21 δι᾿ ἑκατέρου γὰρ ὡς ὁμοίως ὁ νόμος ὑπερηφανεῖται. 21 for in either case the law is equally slighted.
22 χλευάζεις δὲ ἡμῶν τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ὥσπερ οὐ μετὰ εὐλογιστίας ἐν αὐτῇ βιούντων· 22 But thou deridest our philosophy, as though we lived irrationally in it.
23 σωφροσύνην τε γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐκδιδάσκει ὥστε πασῶν τῶν ἡδονῶν καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν κρατεῖν καὶ ἀνδρείαν ἐξασκεῖ ὥστε πάντα πόνον ἑκουσίως ὑπομένειν 23 Yet it instructs us in temperance, so that we are superior to all pleasures and lusts; and it exercises us in manliness, so that we cheerfully undergo every grievance.
24 καὶ δικαιοσύνην παιδεύει ὥστε· διὰ πάντων τῶν ἠθῶν ἰσονομεῖν καὶ εὐσέβειαν ἐκδιδάσκει ὥστε μόνον τὸν ὄντα θεὸν σέβειν μεγαλοπρεπῶς. 24 And it instructs us in justice, so that in all our dealings we render what is due; and it teaches us piety, so that we worship the one only God becomingly.
25 διὸ οὐ μιαροφαγοῦμεν· πιστεύοντες γὰρ θεοῦ καθεστάναι τὸν νόμον οἴδαμεν ὅτι κατὰ φύσιν ἡμῖν συμπαθεῖ νομοθετῶν ὁ τοῦ κόσμου κτίστης· 25 Wherefore it is that we eat not the unclean; for believing that the law was established by God, we are convinced that the Creator of the world, in giving his laws, sympathises with our nature.
26 τὰ μὲν οἰκειωθησόμενα ἡμῶν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐπέτρεψεν ἐσθίειν, τὰ δὲ ἐναντιωθησόμενα ἐκώλυσεν σαρκοφαγεῖν. 26 Those things which are convenient to our souls, he has directed us to eat; but those which are repugnant to them, he has interdicted.
27 τυραννικὸν δὲ οὐ μόνον ἀναγκάζειν ἡμᾶς παρανομεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐσθίειν, ὅπως τῇ ἐχθίστῃ ἡμῶν μιαροφαγίᾳ ταύτῃ ἐπεγγελάσῃς. 27 But, tyrant-like, thou not only forcest us to break the law, but also to eat, that thou mayest ridicule us as we thus profanely eat:
28 ἀλλ᾿ οὐ γελάσεις κατ᾿ ἐμοῦ τοῦτον τὸν γέλωτα, 28 but thou shalt not have this cause of laughter against me;
29 οὔτε τοὺς ἱεροὺς τῶν προγόνων περὶ τοῦ φυλάξαι τὸν νόμον ὅρκους οὐ παρήσω, 29 nor will I transgress the sacred oaths of my forefathers to keep the law.
30 οὐδ᾿ ἄν ἐκκόψειάς μου τὰ ὄμματα καὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα μου τήξειας. 30 No, not if you pluck out my eyes, and consume my entrails.
31 οὐχ οὕτως εἰμὶ γέρων ἐγὼ καὶ ἄνανδρος ὥστε μοι διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν μὴ νεάζειν τὸν λογισμόν. 31 I am not so old, and void of manliness, but that my rational powers are youthful in defence of my religion.
32 πρὸς ταῦτα τροχοὺς εὐτρέπιζε καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἐκφύσα σφοδρότερον. 32 Now then; prepare your wheels, and kindle a fiercer flame.
33 οὐχ οὕτως οἰκτίρομαι τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ γῆρας ὥστε δι᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ τὸν πάτριον καταλῦσαι νόμον. 33 I will not so compassionate my old age, as on my account to break the law of my country.
34 οὐ ψεύσομαί σὲ, παιδευτὰ νόμε, οὐδὲ ἐξομοῦμαί σὲ, φίλη ἐγκράτεια, 34 I will not belie thee, O law, my instructor! or forsake thee, O beloved self-control!
35 οὐδὲ καταισχυνῶ σὲ, φιλόσοφε λόγε, οὐδὲ ἐξαρνήσομαί σὲ, ἱερωσύνη τίμια καὶ νομοθεσίας ἐπιστήμη· 35 I will not put thee to shame, O philosopher Reason; or deny thee, O honoured priesthood, and science of the law.
36 οὐδὲ μιανεῖς μου τὸ σεμνὸν γήρως στόμα οὐδὲ νομίμου βίου ἡλικίαν. 36 Mouth! thou shalt not pollute my old age, nor the full stature of a perfect life.
37 ἁγνόν με οἱ πατέρες εἰσδέξονται μὴ φοβηθέντα σου τὰς μέχρι θανάτου ἀνάγκας. 37 My fathers shall receive me pure, not having quailed before your compulsion, though unto death.
38 ἀσεβῶν μὲν γὰρ τυραννήσεις, τῶν δὲ ἐμῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας λογισμῶν οὔτε λόγοις δεσπόσεις οὔτε δι᾿ ἔργων. 38 For over the ungodly thou shalt tyrannize; but thou shalt not lord it over my thoughts about religion, either by thine arguments, or through deeds.