2 Maccabees · Clementine Vulgate
2 Maccabees 6 Clementine Vulgate
1 Sed non post multum temporis, misit rex senem quemdam Antiochenum, qui compelleret Judæos ut se transferrent a patriis et Dei legibus:
1 Not long after this, the king sent out an old man of Athens to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and not to live by the laws of God,
2 contaminare etiam quod in Jerosolymis erat templum, et cognominare Jovis Olympii: et in Garizim, prout erant hi qui locum inhabitabant, Jovis hospitalis.
2 and also to pollute the sanctuary in Jerusalem and to call it by the name of Olympian Zeus, and to call the sanctuary in Gerizim by the name of Zeus the Protector of foreigners, even as the people who lived in that place did.
3 Pessima autem et universis gravis erat malorum incursio:
3 The visitation of this evil was harsh and utterly grievous.
4 nam templum luxuria et comessationibus gentium erat plenum, et scortantium cum meretricibus: sacratisque ædibus mulieres se ultro ingerebant, intro ferentes ea quæ non licebat.
4 For the temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the heathen, who dallied with prostitutes, and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and moreover brought inside things that were not appropriate.
5 Altare etiam plenum erat illicitis, quæ legibus prohibebantur.
5 The altar was filled with those abominable things which had been prohibited by the laws.
6 Neque autem sabbata custodiebantur, neque dies solemnes patrii servabantur, nec simpliciter Judæum se esse quisquam confitebatur.
6 A man could neither keep the Sabbath, nor observe the feasts of their ancestors, nor so much as confess himself to be a Jew.
7 Ducebantur autem cum amara necessitate in die natalis regis ad sacrificia: et cum Liberi sacra celebrarentur, cogebantur hedera coronati Libero circuire.
7 On the day of the king’s birth every month, they were led along with bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices. When the feast of Dionysia came, they were compelled to go in procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy.
8 Decretum autem exiit in proximas gentilium civitates, suggerentibus Ptolemæis, ut pari modo et ipsi adversus Judæos agerent, ut sacrificarent:
8 A decree went out to the neighboring Greek cities, by the suggestion of Ptolemy, that they should observe the same conduct against the Jews, and should make them eat of the sacrifices,
9 eos autem qui nollent transire ad instituta gentium, interficerent: erat ergo videre miseriam.
9 and that they should kill those who didn’t choose to go over to the Greek rites. So the present misery was for all to see.
10 Duæ enim mulieres delatæ sunt natos suos circumcidisse: quas, infantibus ad ubera suspensis, cum publice per civitatem circumduxissent, per muros præcipitaverunt.
10 For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. These, when they had led them publicly around the city with the babes hung from their breasts, they threw down headlong from the wall.
11 Alii vero, ad proximas coëuntes speluncas, et latenter sabbati diem celebrantes, cum indicati essent Philippo, flammis succensi sunt, eo quod verebantur propter religionem et observantiam manu sibimet auxilium ferre.
11 Others who had run together into the caves nearby to keep the seventh day secretly, were betrayed to Philip and were all burned together, because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of the honor of that most solemn day.
12 Obsecro autem eos qui hunc librum lecturi sunt, ne abhorrescant propter adversos casus: sed reputent ea quæ acciderunt, non ad interitum, sed ad correptionem esse generis nostri.
12 I urge those who read this book to not be discouraged because of the calamities, but recognize that these punishments were not for the destruction, but for the chastening of our race.
13 Etenim multo tempore non sinere peccatoribus ex sententia agere, sed statim ultiones adhibere, magni beneficii est indicium.
13 For indeed it is a sign of great kindness that those who act impiously are not let alone for a long time, but immediately meet with retribution.
14 Non enim, sicut in aliis nationibus, Dominus patienter exspectat, ut eas cum judicii dies advenerit, in plenitudine peccatorum puniat:
14 For in the case of the other nations, the Sovereign Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have attained to the full measure of their sins; but not with us,
15 ita et in nobis statuit ut, peccatis nostris in finem devolutis, ita demum in nos vindicet.
15 that he may not take vengeance on us afterward, when we have come to the height of our sins.
16 Propter quod numquam quidem a nobis misericordiam suam amovet: corripiens vero in adversis, populum suum non dereliquit.
16 Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us; but though he chastens with calamity, he doesn’t forsake his own people.
17 Sed hæc nobis ad commonitionem legentium dicta sint paucis. Jam enim veniendum est ad narrationem.
17 However let this that we have spoken suffice to remind you; but after a few words, we must come to the narrative.
18 Igitur Eleazarus, unus de primoribus scribarum, vir ætate provectus, et vultu decorus, aperto ore hians compellebatur carnem porcinam manducare.
18 Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, a man already well advanced in years, and of a noble countenance, was compelled to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh.
19 At ille gloriosissimam mortem magis quam odibilem vitam complectens, voluntarie præibat ad supplicium.
19 But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with defilement, advanced of his own accord to the instrument of torture, but first spat out the flesh,
20 Intuens autem quemadmodum oporteret accedere, patienter sustinens, destinavit non admittere illicita propter vitæ amorem.
20 as men ought to come who are resolute to repel such things as not even for the natural love of life is it lawful to taste.
21 Hi autem qui astabant, iniqua miseratione commoti propter antiquam viri amicitiam, tollentes eum secreto rogabant afferri carnes quibus vesci ei licebat, ut simularetur manducasse sicut rex imperaverat de sacrificii carnibus,
21 But those who had the charge of that forbidden sacrificial feast took the man aside, for the acquaintance which of old times they had with him, and privately implored him to bring flesh of his own providing, such as was proper for him to use, and to make as if he did eat of the flesh from the sacrifice, as had been commanded by the king;
22 ut hoc facto, a morte liberaretur: et propter veterem viri amicitiam, hanc in eo faciebant humanitatem.
22 that by so doing he might be delivered from death, and so his ancient friendship with them might be treated kindly.
23 At ille cogitare cœpit ætatis ac senectutis suæ eminentiam dignam, et ingenitæ nobilitatis canitiem, atque a puero optimæ conversationis actus: et secundum sanctæ et a Deo conditæ legis constituta, respondit cito, dicens præmitti se velle in infernum.
23 But he, having formed a high resolve, and one that became his years, the dignity of old age, and the gray hairs which he had reached with honor, and his excellent education from a child, or rather the holy laws of God’s ordaining, declared his mind accordingly, bidding them to quickly send him to Hades.
24 Non enim ætati nostræ dignum est, inquit, fingere: ut multi adolescentium, arbitrantes Eleazarum nonaginta annorum transisse ad vitam alienigenarum,
24 “For it doesn’t become our years to dissemble,” he said, “that many of the young should suppose that Eleazar, the man of ninety years, had gone over to an alien religion;
25 et ipsi propter meam simulationem, et propter modicum corruptibilis vitæ tempus decipiantur, et per hoc maculam atque execrationem meæ senectuti conquiram.
25 and so they, by reason of my deception, and for the sake of this brief and momentary life, would be led astray because of me, and I defile and disgrace myself in my old age.
26 Nam etsi in præsenti tempore suppliciis hominum eripiar, sed manum Omnipotentis nec vivus, nec defunctus, effugiam.
26 For even if for the present time I would remove from me the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die, I wouldn’t escape the hands of the Almighty.
27 Quam ob rem fortiter vita excedendo, senectute quidem dignus apparebo:
27 Therefore, by bravely parting with my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age,
28 adolescentibus autem exemplum forte relinquam, si prompto animo ac fortiter pro gravissimis ac sanctissimis legibus honesta morte perfungar. His dictis, confestim ad supplicium trahebatur.
28 and leave behind a noble example to the young to die willingly and nobly a glorious death for the revered and holy laws.” When he had said these words, he went immediately to the instrument of torture.
29 Hi autem qui eum ducebant, et paulo ante fuerant mitiores, in iram conversi sunt propter sermones ab eo dictos, quos illi per arrogantiam prolatos arbitrabantur.
29 When they changed the good will they bore toward him a little before into ill will because these words of his were, as they thought, sheer madness,
30 Sed cum plagis perimeretur, ingemuit, et dixit: Domine, qui habes sanctam scientiam, manifeste tu scis quia cum a morte possem liberari, duros corporis sustineo dolores: secundum animam vero propter timorem tuum libenter hæc patior.
30 and when he was at the point to die with the blows, he groaned aloud and said, “To the Lord, who has the holy knowledge, it is manifest that, while I might have been delivered from death, I endure severe pains in my body by being scourged; but in soul I gladly suffer these things because of my fear of him.”
31 Et iste quidem hoc modo vita decessit, non solum juvenibus, sed et universæ genti memoriam mortis suæ ad exemplum virtutis et fortitudinis derelinquens.
31 So this man also died like this, leaving his death for an example of nobleness and a memorial of virtue, not only to the young but also to the great body of his nation.