2
O reason, more royal than kings and freer than the free!
3
O sacred and harmonious concord of the seven brothers on behalf of religion!
4
None of the seven youths proved coward or shrank from death,
5
but all of them, as though running the course toward immortality, hastened to death by torture.
6
Just as the hands and feet are moved in harmony with the guidance of the mind, so those holy youths, as though moved by an immortal spirit of devotion, agreed to go to death for its sake.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.