4 Maccabees 16:6

⁴But with the reasoning of religion the mother quenched passions so great and powerful.

⁵For we must consider also this: that, had the woman been faint-hearted, as being their mother, she would have lamented over them; and perhaps might have spoken thus:

— 4 Maccabees 16:6 —

⁷O seven useless childbirths, and seven profitless periods of labor, and fruitless givings of suck, and miserable nursings at the breast.

⁸Vainly, for your sakes, O sons, have I endured many pangs, and the more difficult anxieties of rearing.