12
he said, "Tyrant, they are splendid favors that you grant us against your will, because through these noble sufferings you give us an opportunity to show our endurance for the law."
13
After he too had died, the sixth, a mere boy, was led in. When the tyrant inquired whether he was willing to eat and be released, he said,
14
"I am younger in age than my brothers, but I am their equal in mind.
15
Since to this end we were born and bred, we ought likewise to die for the same principles.
16
So if you intend to torture me for not eating defiling foods, go on torturing!"
17
When he had said this, they led him to the wheel.
18
He was carefully stretched tight upon it, his back was broken, and he was roasted from underneath.
19
To his back they applied sharp spits that had been heated in the fire, and pierced his ribs so that his entrails were burned through.
20
While being tortured he said, "O contest befitting holiness, in which so many of us brothers have been summoned to an arena of sufferings for religion, and in which we have not been defeated!
21
For religious knowledge, O tyrant, is invincible.
22
I also, equipped with nobility, will die with my brothers,