11
Nevertheless, though so many factors influenced the mother to suffer with them out of love for her children, in the case of none of them were the various tortures strong enough to pervert her reason.
12
But each child separately and all of them together the mother urged on to death for religion's sake.
13
O sacred nature and affection of parental love, yearning of parents toward offspring, nurture and indomitable suffering by mothers!
14
This mother, who saw them tortured and burned one by one, because of religion did not change her attitude.
15
She watched the flesh of her children being consumed by fire, their toes and fingers scattered on the ground, and the flesh of the head to the chin exposed like masks.
16
O mother, tried now by more bitter pains than even the birth pangs you suffered for them!
17
O woman, who alone gave birth to such complete devotion!
18
When the firstborn breathed his last, it did not turn you aside, nor when the second in torments looked at you piteously nor when the third expired;
19
nor did you weep when you looked at the eyes of each one in his tortures gazing boldly at the same agonies, and saw in their nostrils the signs of the approach of death.
20
When you saw the flesh of children burned upon the flesh of other children, severed hands upon hands, scalped heads upon heads, and corpses fallen on other corpses, and when you saw the place filled with many spectators of the torturings, you did not shed tears.
21
Neither the melodies of sirens nor the songs of swans attract the attention of their hearers as did the voices of the children in torture calling to their mother.