1brethren, who were on the rack, being tortured to death; nay more, they even encouraged them to face the agony, so as not only to despise their own tortures, but also to conquer their passion of brotherly affection for their brethren.
2O Reasoning minds, more kingly than kings, than freemen more free,
3of the harmony of the seven brethren, holy and well attuned to the keynote of piety!
4None of the seven youths turned coward, none shrunk in the face of death,
5but all hastened to the death by torture as if running the road to immortality.
6For as hands and feet move in harmony with the promptings of the soul, so those holy youths, as if prompted by the immortal soul