In Antioch, there lived a pious old man in his ninetieth year, named
Eleazar. When the overseers came to see that the commands of the King
were obeyed, this old man refused to eat of the swine’s flesh which was
offered him. The King’s officer not wishing to harm so old a man,
offered to give him meat which he was allowed to eat but which it would
be announced was swine’s flesh. In making this offer, the overseer
thought that if the other people would see the respected Eleazar eating
what they thought was pig’s flesh, that they would readily do as he did.
The brave old man, however, refused to set such an example to the Jews,
some of whom would excuse their weakness by his act. He was then
stripped of his clothes, beaten, and tortured. The last words of the
martyr were: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One”, and then he
died.