4 Maccabees 2 — GMV

2 Verse 1 And what wonder? if the lusts of the soul, after participation with what is beautiful, are frustrated, ^{Verse 2} on this ground, therefore, the temperate Joseph is praised in that by reasoning, he subdued, on reflection, the indulgence of sense. ^{Verse 3} For, although young, and ripe for sexual intercourse, he abrogated by reasoning the stimulus of his passions. ^{Verse 4} And it is not merely the stimulus of sensual indulgence, but that of every desire, that reasoning is able to master. ^{Verse 5} For instance, the law says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor anything that belongs to thy neighbor. ^{Verse 6} Now, then, since it is the law which has forbidden us to desire, I shall much the more easily persuade you, that reasoning is able to govern our lusts, just as it does the affections which are impediments to justice. ^{Verse 7} Since in what way is a solitary eater, and a glutton, and a drunkard reclaimed, unless it be clear that reasoning is lord of the passions? ^{Verse 8} A man, therefore, who regulates his course by the law, even if he be a lover of money, straightaway puts force upon his own disposition; lending to the needy without interest, and canceling the debt of the incoming Sabbath. ^{Verse 9} And should a man be parsimonious, he is ruled by the law acting through reasoning; so that he does not glean his harvest crops, nor vintage: and in reference to other points we may perceive that it is reasoning that conquers his passions. ^{Verse 10} For the law conquers even affection toward parents, not surrendering virtue on their account. ^{Verse 11} And it prevails over marriage love, condemning it when transgressing law. ^{Verse 12} And it lords it over the love of parents toward their children, for they punish them for vice; and it domineers over the intimacy of friends, reproving them when wicked. ^{Verse 13} And think it not a strange assertion that reasoning can in behalf of the law conquer even enmity. ^{Verse 14} It alloweth not to cut down the cultivated herbage of an enemy, but preserveth it from the destroyers, and collecteth their fallen ruins. ^{Verse 15} And reasoning appears to be master of the more violent passions, as love of empire and empty boasting, and arrogance, and loud boasting, and slander. ^{Verse 16} For the temperate understanding repels all these malignant passions, as it does wrath: for it masters even this. ^{Verse 17} Thus Moses, when angered against Dathan and Abiram, did nothing to them in wrath, but regulated his anger by reasoning. ^{Verse 18} For the temperate mind is able, as I said, to be superior to the passions, and to transfer some, and destroy others. ^{Verse 19} For why, else, does our most wise father Jacob blame Simeon and Levi for having irrationally slain the whole race of the Shechemites, saying, Cursed be their anger. ^{Verse 20} For if reasoning did not possess the power of subduing angry affections, he would not have spoken thus. ^{Verse 21} For at the time when God created man, He implanted within him his passions and moral nature. ^{Verse 22} And at that time He enthroned above all the holy leader mind, through the medium of the senses. ^{Verse 23} And He gave a law to this mind, by living according to which it will maintain a temperate, and just, and good, and manly reign. ^{Verse 24} How, then, a man may say, if reasoning be master of the passions, has it no control over forgetfulness and ignorance?