When Eleazar in this manner had made eloquent response to the exhortations of the tyrant, the guards who were standing by dragged him violently to the instruments of torture. First they stripped the old man, though he remained adorned with the gracefulness of his piety. After they had tied his arms on each side they flogged him, while a herald who faced him cried out, “Obey the king’s commands!” But the courageous and noble man, like a true Eleazar, was unmoved, as though being tortured in a...