7
Otherwise how could it be that someone who is habitually a solitary gormandizer, a glutton, or even a drunkard can learn a better way, unless reason is clearly lord of the emotions?
8
Thus, as soon as a man adopts a way of life in accordance with the law, even though he is a lover of money, he is forced to act contrary to his natural ways and to lend without interest to the needy and to cancel the debt when the seventh year arrives.
9
If one is greedy, he is ruled by the law through his reason so that he neither gleans his harvest nor gathers the last grapes from the vineyard. In all other matters we can recognize that reason rules the emotions.
10
For the law prevails even over affection for parents, so that virtue is not abandoned for their sakes.
11
It is superior to love for one's wife, so that one rebukes her when she breaks the law.
12
It takes precedence over love for children, so that one punishes them for misdeeds.
13
It is sovereign over the relationship of friends, so that one rebukes friends when they act wickedly.
14
Do not consider it paradoxical when reason, through the law, can prevail even over enmity. The fruit trees of the enemy are not cut down, but one preserves the property of enemies from the destroyers and helps raise up what has fallen.
15
It is evident that reason rules even the more violent emotions: lust for power, vainglory, boasting, arrogance, and malice.
16
For the temperate mind repels all these malicious emotions, just as it repels anger -- for it is sovereign over even this.
17
When Moses was angry with Dathan and Abiram he did nothing against them in anger, but controlled his anger by reason.