And what is there to be surprised at if the natural desire of the soul to enjoy the fruition of beauty is quenched?
2This, certainly, is why we praise the virtuous Joseph, because by his Reason, with a mental effort, he checked the carnal impulse. For he, a young man at the age when physical desire is strong, by his Reason quenched the impulse of his passions.
3And Reason is proved to subdue the impulse not only of sexual desire, but of all sorts of covetings.
4For the Law says, 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor anything that is thy neighbour's.'
5Verily, when the Law orders us not to covet, it should, I think, confirm strongly the argument that the Reason is capable of controlling covetous desires, even as it does the passions that militate against justice.
6How else, can a man, naturally gormandizing and greedy and drunken, be taught to change his nature, if the Reason be not manifestly the master of the passions?
7Certainly, as soon as a man orders his life according to the Law, if he is miserly he acts contrary to his nature, and lends money to the needy without interest, and at the seventh-year periods cancels the debt.
8And if he is parsimonious, he is overruled by the Law through the action of Reason, and refrains from gleaning his stubbles or picking the last grapes from his vineyards.
9And with regard to all the rest we can recognize that Reason is in the position of master over the passions or affections.
10For the Law ranks above affection for parents, so that a man may not for their sakes surrender his virtue, and it overrides love for a wife, so that if she transgress a man should rebuke her, and it governs love for children, so that if they are naughty a man should punish them, and it controls the claims of friendship, so that a man should reprove his friends if they do evil.
11And do not think it a paradoxical thing when Reason through the Law is able to overcome even hatred, so that a man refrains from cutting down the enemy's orchards, and protects the property of the enemy from the spoilers, and gathers up their goods that have been scattered.
12And the rule of Reason is likewise proved to extend through the more aggressive passions or vices, ambition, vanity, ostentation, pride, and backbiting.
13For the temperate mind repels all these debased passions, even as it does anger, for it conquers even this.
14Yea, Moses when he was angered against Dathan and Abiram did not give free course to his wrath, but governed his anger by his Reason.
15For the temperate mind is able, as I said, to win the victory over the passions, modifying some, while crushing others absolutely.
16Why else did our wise father Jacob blame the houses of Simeon and Levi for their unreasoning slaughter of the tribe of the Shechemites, saying, 'Accursed be their anger!'
17For had not Reason possessed the power to restrain their anger he would not have spoken thus.
18For in the day when God created man, he implanted in him his passions and inclinations, and also, at the very same time, set the mind on a throne amidst the senses to be his sacred guide in all things; and to the mind he gave the Law, by the which if a man order himself, he shall reign over a kingdom that is temperate, and just, and virtuous, and brave.
19WELL then, someone may ask, if Reason is master of the passions why is it not master of forgetfulness and ignorance?
20But the argument is supremely ridiculous. For Reason is not shown to be master over passions or defects in itself, but over those of the body.
21For example, none of you is able to extirpate our natural desire, but the Reason can enable him to escape being made a slave by desire.
22None of you is able to extirpate anger from the soul, but it is possible for the Reason to come to his aid against anger.
23None of you can extirpate a malevolent disposition, but Reason can be his powerful ally against being swayed by malevolence.
24Reason is not the extirpate of the passions, but their antagonist.