“Obey me and your life shall be spared”, said the King to the third son, after threatening to tear out his tongue and cut off his hands if he were not obeyed. “Do you seek to terrify me”, cried the brave lad. “Our religion teaches us, “Thou shalt worship no other Gods”, and like my brothers I shall not forsake my religion, and like them I shall die”. Then he was killed. “Do not think that God has given us into your hands to add honor to your name; it is to make known to the world that a more cruel and wicked man has never lived”, answered the fifth son when commanded to bow to the King’s gods. “Remove the insolent fellow”, cried the King, full of wrath. And so the brave boy died. The sixth son was then brought before the King. But he, too, suffered the fate of his brothers. Finally, there remained only the mother and her youngest son, a mere child. When Antiochus saw him, his heart was moved, and he spoke kindly to the child. “Come, my son,” he said to him, “and bow to my gods”. But the boy following the noble example set by his brothers, refused to obey. Then the King tried to induce him to bow by tempting offers of riches and honor. “If you will but obey me”, the King said to him, “I shall bring you up in riches and splendor; and, when you are old enough, I shall make of you a mighty prince, second only to me”. Antiochus could promise what he would, but the child was not to be tempted. The mighty Antiochus was conquered, and now his greatest desire was to induce the boy to obey him. To accomplish this, he resorted to a trick. “My son”, he said to him, “you see your brothers lying dead before you; if you will refuse to do as I ask you, you shall share their fate. But I do not wish to harm you; you are too young to die. I am going to cast my ring on the ground, pick it up and your life will be spared”. To kneel down and pick up the ring was not wrong, it was only a mark of respect to the King which the Jewish Law permitted. But the boy, young as he was, quickly saw that if he would do so, the surrounding crowds would think that he was bowing to the idol. For this reason, he refused to comply with the King’s request. The King was now growing fast impatient, and, as a last resort, turned to the mother and told her to induce her son to do as he requested of him. But the mother was as faithful to her religion and brave as her sons. She took her son to an adjoining room, and there urged him to remain loyal and firm, that he might soon rejoin his brothers in heaven. Then, denouncing the cruel King in the strongest terms, she again encouraged him to remain faithful to the laws of their fathers. But the boy knew himself what was right to do, and soon told the King that he would never obey him.