The Martyrdom of Eleazar

1 When Eleazar had answered the tyrant’s urging in this way, the guards who stood by dragged him roughly to the instruments of torture. 2 First they stripped the old man, though he was adorned with the dignity of piety. 3 Then they tied his arms behind him on each side and whipped him. 4 A herald facing him shouted, “Obey the king’s commands!” 5 But the high-minded and truly noble Eleazar, as though he were being tortured in a dream, was not moved in any way. 6 The old man kept his eyes raised high toward heaven while the whips tore his flesh, his blood streamed down, and his sides were cut open. 7 He fell to the ground because his body could no longer bear the pain, but he kept his reasoning upright and unbending. 8 Then one of the cruel guards leaped on him and kicked him in the side to make him get up after he fell. 9 But he endured the pain, disregarded the compulsion, and held out through the abuse. 10 Like a noble athlete taking blows, the old man defeated his torturers. 11 His face was covered in sweat and he was gasping for breath, and even his torturers admired his courage. 12 So, partly out of pity for his old age, 13 partly out of sympathy as old acquaintances, and partly out of admiration for his endurance, some of the king’s attendants came to him and said, 14 “Eleazar, why are you irrationally destroying yourself through these sufferings? 15 We will bring you some cooked food, and you can save yourself by pretending to eat pork.”⁠a 16 But Eleazar, as though the advice tortured him more cruelly, cried out, 17 “We children of Abraham must never think so poorly that we lose heart and act out a role unworthy of us. 18 For it would be irrational if, having lived in accordance with the truth to old age and having guarded our reputation for it by keeping the law, we now changed course 19 and ourselves became a model of impiety to the young, by setting an example of eating defiled food. 20 It would be shameful to live on for a short time, mocked by everyone for cowardice, 21 and despised by the tyrant as unmanly, for not defending our divine law to the death. 22 So you, children of Abraham, die nobly for piety. 23 And you, the tyrant’s guards, why are you waiting?” 24 When they saw that he was so high-minded in the face of compulsion, and not swayed even by their pity, they took him to the fire. 25 There they burned him with cruelly designed instruments, threw him down, and poured foul-smelling liquids into his nostrils. 26 When he had been burned to the bone and was about to faint, he raised his eyes to God and said, 27 “You know, God, that although I could have saved myself, I am dying in fiery torments for the sake of the law. 28 Be merciful to your people, and let my punishment on their behalf be enough for you.⁠b 29 Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs.” 30 After saying this, the holy man died nobly in his torments, and even in the agonies of death he held firm in his reasoning for the sake of the law.

Eleazar Demonstrates the Strength of Reason

31 It is beyond dispute, then, that religious reasoning is master of the emotions. 32 For if the emotions had mastered reasoning, I would have credited them with this victory. 33 But now that reasoning has conquered the emotions, we rightly give it the authority to rule. 34 And it is right for us to acknowledge that power belongs to reasoning, since it masters even pains that come from outside; to deny it would be ridiculous. 35 I am showing not only that reasoning has mastered pains, but also that it masters pleasures and does not give in to them at all.