§11#2Nabuchodonosor rex, non opus est nobis de hoc uerbo respondere tibi.
'O King Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you concerning this matter.
est enim Deus cui nos seruimus potens eripere nos de camino ignis ardentis: et de manibus tuis, rex, liberabit nos.
For our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of your hands, O king.
et si non, notum sit tibi quia diis tuis non seruimus et imaginem auream quam statuisti non adoramus. et Daniel Deo deuotus et sancto Spiritu plenus exclamat et dicit: nihil colo ego nisi Dominum Deum meum qui condidit caelum et terram. Tobias quoque sub regali licet ac tyrannica seruitute, sensu tamen ac spiritu liber confessionem suam Deo seruat et uirtutem maiestatemque diuinam sublimiter praedicat dicens: ego in terra captiuitatis meae confiteor illi et ostendo uirtutem eius in natione peccatrice. Quid uero in Machabaeis septem fratres et natalium pariter et uirtutum sorte consimiles septenarium numerum sacramento perfectae consummationis implentes? sic septem fratres martyrio cohaerentes, ut primi in dispositione diuina septem dies annorum septem milia continentes, ut septem spiritus et angeli septem qui adsistunt et conuersantur ante faciem Dei et lucerna septiformis in tabernaculo martyrii et in Apocalypsi septem candelabra aurea et aput Salomonem columnae septem, super quas aedificat domum sapientia, ita et istic septem fratrum numerus ecclesias septem numeri sui quantitate conplexus, secundum quod in primo Regnorum legimus sterilem septem peperisse.
But if not, be it known to you that we do not serve your gods, nor do we worship the golden image which you have set up.' And Daniel, devoted to God and full of the Holy Spirit, cries out and says: 'I worship nothing but the Lord my God, who created heaven and earth.' Tobit also, although under royal and tyrannical servitude, yet free in mind and spirit, keeps his confession to God and sublimely preaches the divine power and majesty, saying: 'In the land of my captivity I confess to Him, and I show His power to a sinful nation.' But what indeed of the seven brothers in the Maccabees, alike resembling each other in the lot of their birth and of their virtues, filling up the sevenfold number in the mystery of a perfect consummation? Thus the seven brothers, bound together in martyrdom, just like the first seven days in the divine disposition containing seven thousand years, like the seven spirits and seven angels who stand and go in and out before the face of God, and the sevenfold lamp in the tabernacle of testimony, and the seven golden candlesticks in the Apocalypse, and the seven pillars in Solomon, upon which wisdom builds her house, so also here the number of the seven brothers has embraced seven churches in the quantity of its own number, according to what we read in the first book of Kings, that the sterile has borne seven.
et aput Esaiam septem mulieres unum hominem adprehendunt, cuius inuocari super se nomen exposcunt.
And in Isaiah, seven women lay hold of one man, whose name they beg to be called upon them.
et apostolus Paulus qui huius numeri legitimi et certi meminit ad septem ecclesias scribit.
And the apostle Paul, who remembers this lawful and certain number, writes to seven churches.
et in Apocalypsi Dominus mandata sua diuina et praecepta caelestia ad septem ecclesias et earum angelos dirigit.
And in the Apocalypse, the Lord directs His divine commands and celestial precepts to seven churches and their angels.
qui nunc istic numerus in fratribus inuenitur, ut consummatio legitima conpleatur.
Which number is now found here in the brothers, so that the lawful consummation may be completed.
cum septem liberis plane copulatur et mater origo et radix quae ecclesias septem postmodum peperit, ipsa prima et una super petram Domini uoce fundata.
With the seven children, the mother is plainly joined, who is the origin and root, she who afterwards bore seven churches, herself first and alone founded upon the rock by the voice of the Lord.
nec uacat quod in passionibus sola cum liberis mater est.
Nor is it without significance that in their sufferings the mother alone is with her children.
martyres enim qui se Dei filios in passione testantur iam non nisi Deo patre censentur, sicut in euangelio Dominus docet dicens: ne uocaueritis uobis p patrem super terram. unus est enim pater uester qui in caelis est. Quae uero ediderunt confessionum praeconia, quam praeclara, quam magna documenta fidei praebuerunt! rex Antiochus infestus, immo in Antiocho antichristus expressus ora martyrum gloriosa et spiritu confessionis inuicta contagio suillae carnis maculare quaerebat et cum flagellis grauiter uerberasset ac nihil promouere potuisset, sartagines iussit igniri: quibus ignitis et accensis eum qui primus locutus fuerat et magis regem uirtutis et fidei constantia prouocauerat admoueri praecepit et frigi producta et exsecta prius lingua quae confessa Deum fuerat: quod martyri gloriosius contigit.
For the martyrs, who testify in their passion that they are the sons of God, are now no longer reckoned but by God the Father, as the Lord teaches in the Gospel, saying: 'And call no man your father upon earth; for one is your Father, who is in heaven.' But what declarations of confessions did they utter! How illustrious, how great proofs of faith did they afford! The hostile King Antiochus—nay, rather, antichrist expressed in Antiochus—sought to defile the glorious mouths of the martyrs, which were unconquered by the spirit of confession, with the contagion of swine's flesh; and when he had beaten them severely with whips and yet had been able to make no progress, he commanded frying-pans to be heated. When these were heated and burning, he ordered him who had spoken first, and who had more provoked the king by the constancy of his virtue and faith, to be brought near and to be fried, his tongue having first been pulled out and cut off, which had confessed God.
lingua enim confessa nomen Dei prior ad Deum debuit ipsa proficisci.
This happened more gloriously to the martyr; for the tongue that had confessed the name of God ought itself to depart first to God.
post in secundo excogitatis acrioribus poenis, antequam cetera membra torqueret, cutem capiti cum capillis detraxit, odio scilicet certe eo: nam cum caput uiri Christus sit et caput Christi Deus, qui caput laniabat martyre Deum et Christum persequebatur in capite.
Afterwards, in the case of the second, having devised sharper punishments, before he tortured the rest of his limbs, he tore away the skin of his head with the hair, doubtless from that hatred: for since Christ is the head of the man, and God is the head of Christ, he who lacerated the head of the martyr was persecuting God and Christ in his head.
at ille in martyrio suo fidens et resurrectionis sibi praemium de Dei remuneratione promittens exclamauit et dixit: tu quidem, inpotens, ex hac praesenti uita nos perdis: sed mundi rex defunctos nos pro suis legibus in aeternam uitae resurrectionem suscitabit. tertius linguam postulatus cito protulit. nam poenam linguae exsecandae iam didicerat a fratre contemnere.
But he, trusting in his martyrdom, and promising himself the reward of resurrection from God's recompense, cried out and said: 'You indeed, powerless wretch, destroy us from this present life; but the King of the world will raise us up, who have died for His laws, into the eternal resurrection of life.' The third, when required to put out his tongue, quickly did so; for he had already learned from his brother to despise the punishment of having his tongue cut out.
manus quoque amputandas constanter extendit multum beatus genere isto supplicii, cui contigit extensis ad poenam manibus passionis dominicae instar imitari.
He also constantly extended his hands to be amputated, greatly blessed in this kind of punishment, to whom it happened, with hands extended for punishment, to imitate the likeness of the Lord's passion.
nec non et quartus pari uirtute tormenta contemnens et ad retundendum regem caelesti uoce respondens exclamauit et dixit: potius est ab hominibus morti datos expectare spem a Deo iterum ab eo suscitatos.
And likewise the fourth, despising the torments with equal virtue, and answering to crush the king with a heavenly voice, cried out and said: 'It is better for those who are given to death by men to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by Him.
tibi enim resurrectio ad uitam non erit. quintus praeter quod carnificinam regis et duros uariosque cruciatus fidei uigore calcabat, ad praescientiam quoque et notitiam futurorum spiritu diuinitatis animatus prophetauit regi indignationem Dei et ultionem uelociter secuturam.
For to you there shall be no resurrection to life.' The fifth, besides the fact that he trod underfoot the king's butchery and his harsh and various tortures by the vigor of his faith, being animated also by the Spirit of divinity to the foreknowledge and knowledge of future things, prophesied to the king that the indignation of God and swift vengeance would follow.
potestatem, inquit, inter homines habens, cum sis corruptibilis, facis quod uis.
'Having power,' he said, 'among men, though you are corruptible, you do what you will.
noli autem putare genus nostrum a Deo derelictum esse.
But do not think that our nation is forsaken by God.
sustine et uide magna potestas eius qualiter te et semen tuum torquebit.
Endure, and see how His great power will torment you and your seed.' What a relief that was to the martyr!
quale illud leuamentum fuit martyri, quam magnum, quam grande solacium in cruciatibus suis non tormenta propria cogitare sed tortoris sui supplicia praedicare! in sexto uero non uirtus sola sed et humilitas praedicanda est, nihil sibi martyrem uindicasse nec confessionis suae honorem superbis uocibus uentilasse, peccatis potius suis adscripsisse quod persecutionem a rege pateretur, Deo uero dedisse quod postmodum uindicaretur.
How great, how grand a consolation in his tortures, not to think of his own torments, but to preach the punishments of his tormentor! But in the case of the sixth, not only his virtue but also his humility is to be praised: that the martyr claimed nothing for himself, nor boasted of the honor of his confession with proud words, but rather ascribed to his own sins that he suffered persecution from the king, but gave to God that he would afterwards be avenged.
docuit esse martyras uerecundos, de ultione fidere et nihil in passione iactare.
He taught that martyrs should be modest, should trust in vengeance, and should boast of nothing in their suffering.