4 Maccabees 2
2
1Is it any wonder? If the lusts of the soul, after participation with what is beautiful, are frustrated, 2on this ground, therefore, the temperate Joseph is praised in that by reasoning, he subdued, on reflection, the indulgence of the senses. 3For, although young, and ripe for sexual intercourse, he nullified by reasoning the stimulus of his emotions. 4It isn’t merely the stimulus of sensual indulgence, but that of every desire, that reasoning is able to master. 5For instance, the law says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 6Now, 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. 7Since in what way is a solitary eater, a glutton, and a drunkard reclaimed, unless it is clear that reasoning is lord of the emotions? 8Therefore, a man who regulates his course by the law, even if he is a lover of money, immediately puts pressure on his own disposition by lending to the needy without interest, and cancelling the debt on the seventh year. 9If a man is greedy, he is ruled by the law acting through reasoning, so that he doesn’t glean his harvest crops or vintage. In reference to other points we may perceive that it is reasoning that conquers his emotions. 10For the law conquers even affection toward parents, not surrendering virtue on their account. 11It prevails over love for one’s wife, rebuking her when she breaks the law. 12It lords it over the love of parents toward their children, for they punish them for vice. It domineers over the intimacy of friends, reproving them when wicked. 13Don’t think it is a strange assertion that reasoning can on behalf of the law conquer even enmity. 14It doesn’t allow cutting down the fruit trees of an enemy, but preserves them from the destroyers, and collects their fallen ruins. 15Reason appears to be master of the more violent emotions, like love of empire, empty boasting, and slander. 16For the temperate understanding repels all these malignant emotions, as it does wrath; for it masters even this. 17Thus Moses, when angered against Dathan and Abiram, did nothing to them in wrath, but regulated his anger by reasoning. 18For the temperate mind is able, as I said, to be superior to the emotions, and to correct some and destroy others. 19For why else did our most wise father Jacob blame Simeon and Levi for having irrationally slain the whole race of the Shechemites, saying, “Cursed be their anger!”? 20For if reasoning didn’t possess the power of subduing angry affections, he would not have said this. 21For at the time when God created man, he implanted within him his emotions and moral nature. 22At that time he enthroned the mind above all as the holy leader, through the medium of the senses. 23He gave a law to this mind, by living according to which it will maintain a temperate, just, good, and courageous reign. 24How, then, a man may say, if reasoning is master of the emotions, has it no control over forgetfulness and ignorance?
Currently Selected:
4 Maccabees 2: WEBUS
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
PUBLIC DOMAIN (not copyrighted)