Verses on the Birthday of the Maccabees

Contents

1. 1The poem opens: King Antiochus tries to win the Maccabean mother with gifts and torments; she refuses and trusts God's promises.
2. 31The mother defies the king, who orders her sons burned one by one before her; she bares her breast and exhorts the eldest.
3. 61The eldest son dies in the fire; the mother rejoices and exhorts the second son.
4. 91The second son dies cheerfully; the mother warns the king of God's judgment, and the third son is brought forward.
5. 121The mother exhorts the third son, who prays and dies in the fire; she resolves that none of her sons will be spared the contest.
6. 151The fourth son, ashamed and afraid, is exhorted by his mother, who recalls Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the origin of their race.
7. 181The fourth son, encouraged, rushes into the fire; the mother then challenges the hesitating king to bring out the rest.
8. 211The mother tells the king that his victims live in glory; the furious king orders the remaining sons to the flames.
9. 241The fifth son is brought forward; his mother, unable to embrace him, urges him to keep God's law given through Moses and promises him the resurrection.
10. 271The fifth son dies in the fire; the anxious mother exhorts the sixth, still a boy, to be mindful of his race.
11. 301The sixth son dies; the mother, prostrate, prays to God the Creator, recalling creation and the exodus.
12. 331The mother's prayer recalls the water from the rock and asks that her youngest not fail; she begins to exhort him.
13. 361The mother promises her youngest son eternal peace in the kingdom to come and pleads with him not to remain alone; he turns to God in prayer.
14. 391The youngest son dies in the fire, and the mother, released by joy, dies and is received among the saints.