A MOST LEARNED POEM ON THE MACCABEES BY MARIUS VICTORINUS THE AFRICAN, A MAN OF CONSULAR RANK. [FIRST PUBLISHED BY JOHANNES SICHARDUS.] Antiochus was once a most wealthy king of Syria, in whose realm there were, as report tells, a mother and her seven sons, born of the holy nation; whom a constant care bade remember their lineage and to serve the law that had been given them: for thus, willingly, of God's better people, they kept His ordinances. The king, eager to change their faith and change their fear, willed it, and that he might mingle them with the wicked people alike, he promises rewards to the mother, promises them also, and whatever the whole kingdom could seek out, if she would alter their minds and their former resolve and compel her sons to fashion other ways for themselves. She refuses, and presses down the silent grief beneath her heart.
After no bribe could constrain her, he first tried to overcome her with savage torments. Yet she bore the groans and did not fear the king's grievous lashes. When that man saw himself defeated, 'Alas, what shall I do?' he said. 'I am conquered — what more? By your grieving you shall not, however, escape; it is the more that you shall grieve the more. I will rage against your sons; though you persist, shameless one, by this means at least I shall heal my own pain.' She raised her hands and looked up to heaven on high, sent forth groans, and spoke such words: 'Though, tyrant, you should hand over treasures and kingdoms, we are not captured by the gifts of kings, nor shall any gifts snatch from the saints what God has promised: surer is that hope which promises us life for ages long; this I follow, this I have learned — not to touch slippery kingdoms.'
'To seize riches is easy, and to lose one's life. But though after savage lashes you should threaten even the flames, you can change nothing: in our earliest years we received virtue together with the law. I am resolved to leave behind whatever, cruel one, you command. As for the sons over whom you now rule, this alone you will be able to do — to trouble a mother with fear. For my hope is God; sure to me is the lot of my own, through whom I now hope that you can conquer none. O heaven, be favorable, and Parent of heaven, we ask of you what is just.' King Antiochus raged, and his troubled heart swelled; he shakes himself and, with savage glare, reveals a fierce countenance, and long he marvels that a woman could do so much.
'Soldier,' he says, 'obey the king; you too obey, attendant; you servants, obey me. Grant kingdoms to one who rages; grant torments to this womanly evil. A raging woman compels me to rage, and — what is worse — a woman conquers her own king's commands. But she has not spoken with impunity. Let her perish limb by limb: for the treacherous one keeps within my realm seven sons; let him who is counted the first of these perish first; let them all perish thus in order, set upon hurdles, burned by the flames laid beneath, that she herself may behold her own sons; let her thus behold her sons' bitter punishment. And whoever's turn awaits, swift must the ministers be.' Meanwhile the fruitful mother, her hair now loosed, stood by, as though urging them on. Now, baring her breast, holding out the paps that were the nourishment of her sons, she stood unconfounded.
And when she saw her son advancing toward the fires with wavering, fearful step, she said: 'You, my offspring, you my first-born, look upon your mother; you now are surely mine. Now remember me, my son: you I bore first; now imitate your parent, take up my ways. Conquer the king by silence — you will be able to endure long: thus you will conquer treacherous time. Let not the king's violence overcome the saints. Use counsel; fear not the king's harms; he is mightier than that king and more powerful even than this rock: go in like a young man, patiently overcome the pain.' He turns his face now to his mother, now lifts it to the heights, and while he is silent, in silence he asks of Him to whom he ought, and prays; he did not feel the swift fires set beneath the hurdles — his body was made empty. The mother rejoiced in her grief and said: 'I have conquered; I shall conquer if I pray the oftener.'
'Let the sons' valor endure, unknown to the king but now known to God, who knows the hearts of His people.' The fruitful mother had finished her grief over her first-born, but, with fear remaining, anxious for the many, she yet dissembles, lest joy touch the king. King Antiochus is amazed, nor does he believe that the sons who follow can endure such a kind of punishment alike. He bids what was begun be carried through. The mother remained unterrified. Yet when she saw a pale son stand by, turning these things over within herself, somewhat relieved already, she said: 'Behold, my second offspring is brought forth into the years — how like to his fair-breasted brother. Hard one, if you follow the footsteps of our first-born, you will be able to be mine, and so to win back the salvation which your brother already holds. Following your mother's precepts, be mine.'
'And scorn the threats of the raging king. The little kingdoms, holding their fleeting span, are given for a time. After these things that king will be able to do you no harm. Behold, the lightly-kindled fire of a moment is compelled — here is the place of valor. Lay aside your faint fear. Take up the ways of our race, if their meaning clings to you. He who here holds the scepter, who rages within this realm, drives but empty time; it is God who created realm and life, and the guilty one, condemned, shall feel eternal fires, while you shall be secure, with the throng of the godly accompanying. Take, my son, my looks, and gaze toward heaven, and toward God the Author, through whom a better life than this is prepared for you, and tread in your brother's footsteps. Hear not what the king commands, but what God ordains.' Even as he was, admonished, he beheld his mother and heaven.
He stood firm, and with cheerful countenance began to despise the king, and as though laughing he rushed into the burning fires, and falling, lying down, he rested while his soul prevailed. When the mother saw this, with steadfast lips she spoke thus: 'Happy in some part, since now you wish it, nor can you, savage tyrant, conquer all my sons by slaughtering them. A heavier punishment now awaits you, cruel one, in fire that you shall soon suffer: for here God beholds all things.' Now two, untroubled, remained, the king despised. Now the mother's hope was better. Now the third draws near. Behold the place of punishment. If it is punishment to conquer the king and to serve God, it is praise, not punishment of the raging one. The third youth is dragged forward at the tyrant's command. The fury within him was not yet healed, and wrath raged likewise.
Because he had seen the brave hearts of the brothers undauntedly overcome the fury of the king. There stood before his feet a youth in his blooming years, excellent in form, worthy to hold a kingdom, more worthy than Antiochus — and thus, following better realms by God's will. To him the mother speaks such words: 'Receive, my son, untroubled, the sayings of your parent; receive them, lest sluggish you render back the honor of valor. You have brothers already abiding in the seat of piety; now there is a better place than the king's tottering realms, and if you reach with your heart their own perceptions, you will be reported, victorious among the peoples, to have overcome the king, as report has already sent your brothers into all the world. Draw near, I pray. These things, these, are fitting for one who grieves to have despised wickedness and to forsake the laws of an unbridled king, whom no pleasure awaits after these things.'
But the youth was sending forth his voice in silent murmur, like one praying, and stretched his palms on high, and, his knee bent, he painted upon his mother's face such a look as he might, where the throng allowed his gaze. He, as soon as admonished, climbed the hurdle into the fire undaunted, and with sure faith placed his own limbs there; and the holy soul which survives departed inviolate. The flames had subsided, the warm embers remaining; the opened earth received the unharmed body. But the mother, doubting whether to take up groans or joys, hesitates, and thus spoke in querulous speech: 'What now, dread one, do you prepare? We obey your commands and all your gifts — but let no guardian withdraw any of my offspring; yet though you yourself should wish it, I will not endure it, tyrant:'
'for let them all alike perish in so great a contest, though you, dreadful one, should change the punishment of your own time, and the same hard sentence that you prepare for my holy sons — but if you prepare heavier things, if there be heavier, to threaten — and because you see my face held by horror, you would rejoice each time you decree in this matter.' But the king himself burns the more, stirred by swift wrath, and thinks himself scorned, nor will he have the mother bear the punishments like the rest of the throng of brothers. He perceives that she seeks this — to bring the fourth son to a harsh destruction. With his own hand he nearly seized him, for the wearied ministers wished to bear neither the king's furies nor the king. For shame! The son blushed to show his face to his mother, and with astonished mind began to be confounded. After she saw him standing with downcast eye, she approaches him with such words, about to admonish the fearful one:
'From the first you are the fourth offspring to me, the fourth from the last. What words now to you, what can I say, my son? Only this: that with you may be hardened power together with valor, and to that king the author of our holy origin we owe whatever we are asked. He gave us Abraham with the holy seed, through whom our nobility, through whom all our race is approved, which abides unto the Lord. Holy Isaac, who is born then, when old age could no longer of itself hope for any son, since Sarah remained barren — yet she bore him, and from the line, by descent begun, there remain for you, unhoped-for, the grandsons of Sarah: Esau and Jacob, led down into one fatherland, whom Rebecca bore by twin birth at her prayers. Hence we are, hence we arise; this race, my son, is to be sought by you.'
'Open for yourself the way of your race, who from the stronghold of your forefathers — whose offspring, scattered through the whole world, suffers envy because alone it worships the Lord, the mighty One, in its mind, nor has received itself among the mingled, wicked throng. Why with sad face, why do you hold your eyes fixed on the ground? Rather behold heaven and the Parent of heaven; do not doubt. Your mother shows you prosperous things, whatever it be; patiently hear, consent, my son, to the throng of my following, and urge on their number.' The parent had not yet finished her decrees of grief and joy mingled, her glorious admonitions, when he himself lifts the orbs of his light and began to attend to his mother with his eyes, now bearing nothing sad. His bearing and his face confess that he had feared nothing, save the grievous wounds of his mother divided among her offspring:
but he too, slipping from their hands at a hastened run, climbed into the fires — I shall tell of a wonder — the flame touched not his hair, nor reached his face. As the lifeless body had overcome the fire's flames, yet through the open mouth, silently, where the spirit might go, whence it had been received, it fled together with his blood. In this very thing the parent rejoiced, that he who had just stood with sad face, trusting that with a safe heart he had obeyed the precepts, was a despiser of the king and of his wrath. Thus, though it had arisen, when the king hesitated over those who remained and gave forth groans, the godly throng of the ministers curse the king, complaining with so great a speech: 'Bring him forth — why do you hesitate? You ought now to spare none, nor can you, however you may wish, break the decree against any:'
'I appeal to the King who governs the whole world, who rules the sea, who rules the heaven, whom the stars of heaven obey: for unless you bring him forth, there is fear; already more sluggishly the matter presses on, already you perceive whom the punishment seeks, already glory remains for us on either side; let it be permitted to bring forth — to none! For whomever you have commanded to depart from your kingdom — perhaps you suppose this to be death, frenzied tyrant. Longer rather is the life, and more powerful than this realm which you rule; do you now linger over the last part of it? These too, if you fear them, surpass you, though younger in age, and by very scorn alike have I conquered your realms, proud one. But carry out your command, nor divide our offspring; give these too to the flames, and use the powers of your realm; yet you are mortal, nor will you hold your kingdoms forever.'
Antiochus conceives furies, and the savage tyrant displays them, and rolls groans within his breast; his color consents with his mind. Sad, he lifts his heavy countenance and utters such words: 'This freedom of yours, and the dread power of your tongue, and this rigor which you bear upon your swollen neck — you shall feel the wrath of the King against you. What times may avail, if you are not yet sated with evils and try to feign gladness and turn your griefs into joys — I will not change the death-stroke: rejoice, be glad, triumph, provided you so conquer that the last of your own — do you so, exceedingly frenzied, rejoice in the funeral of your sons? This too I give to the flames; nor can any power change these decrees. Live on, happy, surviving, bereft of your sons, and lest my commands be delayed, let the order run its course.'
'Bring forth the son, and let him not perish by a vain fire nor be left in doubt to see — after these things, I, the King, suppose. There is no fear in me of a woman. From your peerless nation you are brought forth as judge, O boy marvelous in form, in whose breast firm valor abides — valor that could already even conquer the King.' To him the mother spoke thus with calm speech: 'If it were permitted to give embraces to your mother, my son, I confess I would have given them to you alone after the wounds. But the harsh and grievous power of the King forbids me, and denies embraces. So long as our voice is free, and it is permitted to remember God, and to hold the law not given by a king but the one which God, the arbiter of the world, handed down, and the Ruler of the universe, and which Moses, having sought it, received and gave to the people — since the greatest praise is to know God, to whom we rightly render honor.'
'Only do not hesitate to obey your parent's admonitions: but let vigor and valor, and deep within your whole breast a mind now full of God, abide. Thus your youthful age is braver than the King had hoped — braver than the one who bids you hope. O how great is the valor, how great the confidence in the strong one! Yet why do you hesitate to vanquish the midst of the flames? You will be victor, believe me, boy, and victorious you will return. The sinew will join your body together again with strong bones, and will render the souls preserved once more into new flesh. But lest perchance the swift fire terrify you, take the courage of your brothers, and invoke the eternal Godhead.' He does her bidding, and silently calls God to witness, and prays with what murmur he could; his age does not hinder the boy from no longer fearing death, and he obeyed his willing mother, and quicker than the word leaped upon the fires.
The flames gave way, all pain gave way, and the body and the fire were one; the body had overcome the fire. Yet first the spirit had risen above into the gentle airs. Joyful, the mother silently grieves, and with grief pressed down, she turns her gladness and her laments into joys — not over the past, but over the boyish years of those who remain, lest perchance they deny, lest perchance they conceive fear in their minds and choose rather to inflame the king. The lesser the age, the greater the fear. Anxious within herself she divides both cares and hopes, and thus fear and hope struggle together and course through the godly mother's heart. Yet hope is the better, when she saw the son brought forth: 'And from afar I see him enter — what can hope confer on me in this? He ought to recognize our looks, and this one too obey, in the number of his brothers.'
'Perhaps boyish feelings alone will touch this one in his heart, and he will bear it as an indignity that he is given up thus, as it were a sacrifice. I will speak, and with few words try to say: let him rather be mindful of his race than of this present time. If the nobility of your race, if your origin touches you, look upon your own, my son, and look upon us also, my son. Do not recount your years; boy, begin secretly in your heart to bear God; the ages will hand this down to the ages, what you seek by your lot: let it now give examples to times to come.' 'My son, I pray, this is the more excellent thing. Consider what you flee and what better things are sought; let not the King's empty deceit allure you, and let these things now grow into their contrary, a victor: the spirit extinguished the flames, then thus withdrew. The body which it had given, the opened earth received.'
And the holy soul which survives departed inviolate. Though wearied, the parent endured the King through so many of her wounds, but at the highest pitch, with hands upturned alike, she uttered these words and spoke such things: 'O You who hold dominion over the heaven, the earth, and the sea; You who set the stars in the heavens, who give living creatures to the lands, fishes to the waters, and who lash such airs — to You my eager confidence first rises — You who mingle entangled chaos with blind darkness, divide it into parts, and give both night and day, the moon with its varied sun, and who appoint those that keep the seasons; by night and by day You bid light appear throughout the world, and after these things, man, from whose seed the world is filled — the mortal race, whose tongue melts away, discordant among the nations.'
'Yet for all there is one savor, but He who changed men's speeches by their merits — it is long to recount, but it is settled to persist in what is begun: You willed to hold the divided sea by a rod, while the people crossed the dry deep on foot, fleeing the death of Egypt and king Pharaoh, who bade the number of the saints serve himself; whom Your majesty, with Moses as leader, carried across the stream, and redeemed the whole preserved by Your power. The earth gave fruits which, at Your compulsion, it bore. The water sought in all its hiding-places gives out; there was no moisture; all, complaining with a cry, demanded that Moses give waters to the thirsting. To whom he thus spoke with brief speech: Believe that God can do whatever you shall ask of Him — yet this rod and the stream shall cleave the rock,'
'that fountains may come, abiding through the whole region.' And at the same instant he struck; swifter than the word the rock sent forth all the fountains with first sweetness. I confess: since the whole world is debtor to You, You — whatever the nations can do — You alone can do all things. You care for the mortal race, and burden it, and lighten it; I pray You, with astonished mind, strengthen the fearful one: let not my lowest infant be lacking from the number of his brothers, ignorant of himself; whom now, behold, from afar I see held, with a frequent throng surrounding him. For his sake alone are the tears which his age stirs; for he alone survives, over whom is my greatest care, lest the tender one know not of what race he was born. If only I might be able to lay hold of him alone in secret, I would coax him, and teach him his paternal race and fatherland.'
'But in whatever way I can, I will yet send him comfort: little boy, dearer to me than your tender years, dearer than a kingdom, dearer even than life itself; you can render your mother wholly victorious; you are the end of my child-bearing and the end of evils to come. If care for me touches you, if you keep in your created mind the savor of your mother — though both dear and an infant — heed the more with godly ear your parent. First learn, boy, what you shall be after these things, if you are patient; then deeds teach that you shall be dear to me, placed in the portion of your holy brothers, and you shall be secure in rest, while the savage ages run their courses. When the long time is finished, seeking again this light, you shall behold the eternal kingdoms unstained by evils, but there shall be concord among the saints.'
'Nor will there be any place for death, nor are wars waged with swift-driven horses, but eternal peace shall abide.' 'Believe these things of your mother, who longs to be of your salvation. Why do you thrust back my words with so sad a face? Why do you shrink away? Have pity on me, have pity on yourself. If it were permitted, I would wish to go first; lo, it is forbidden, but I will go then, when I have seen you, my son, victor over evils. What do you bid me hope? Do you alone delay my words? Do you alone still renew, my son, a just grief for me? Do you assent, or do you condemn me and your brothers and your race? Lest perchance you should so wish, I pray and beseech: hear! With these breasts I nursed you small, my son; I pray you by these, which I, the mother of my own, have poured out, that you be willing to remain — yet you will remain alone, and your brothers will not now have given you the comforts of life:'
'they have failed; one — the one thing that remains — a mother, and race and fatherland — if you refuse such words. Alas, how much better will you preserve life, if you do at last whatever the earlier ones did: boldly lay aside your fears, lay aside your dread, conceive God in your mind; He will give you manly strength.' While the mother does these things, the boy looks to his parent's precepts, and saw that he alone was left behind. He raised his face to heaven and his upturned palms, and thus, seeking with his voice, he adores the eternal Godhead, and in his perception likewise within himself, with a nod, he asked: that he might conquer the king, and conquer the savage fires. And so, not sluggish, nor as befits boyish years, he leaps forth undaunted, slipping into the midst of the fires, and he conquered whatever there was — so that his spirit entered life on high.
And that he might seek the secret abodes of his earlier brothers. While the boy does these things, joys loosed the mother; and now, as she was, wearied with evils, now with voice denied, sighing, and collapsing amid the hands of her own, she fell down lifeless, and her loosened limbs grew still. Thus she herself was received, with her sons, into the portion of the saints. THE END.