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and though buffeted by the stormings of the tyrant and overwhelmed by the mighty waves of tortures,
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in no way did he turn the rudder of religion until he sailed into the haven of immortal victory.
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No city besieged with many ingenious war machines has ever held out as did that most holy man. Although his sacred life was consumed by tortures and racks, he conquered the besiegers with the shield of his devout reason.
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For in setting his mind firm like a jutting cliff, our father Eleazar broke the maddening waves of the emotions.
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O priest, worthy of the priesthood, you neither defiled your sacred teeth nor profaned your stomach, which had room only for reverence and purity, by eating defiling foods.
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O man in harmony with the law and philosopher of divine life!
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Such should be those who are administrators of the law, shielding it with their own blood and noble sweat in sufferings even to death.
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You, father, strengthened our loyalty to the law through your glorious endurance, and you did not abandon the holiness that you praised, but by your deeds you made your words of divine philosophy credible.
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O aged man, more powerful than tortures; O elder, fiercer than fire; O supreme king over the passions, Eleazar!
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For just as our father Aaron, armed with the censer, ran through the multitude of the people and conquered the fiery angel,
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so the descendant of Aaron, Eleazar, though being consumed by the fire, remained unmoved in his reason.