9
If one is greedy, one is ruled by the law through reason so that one neither gleans the 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 marauders 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.
18
For, as I have said, the temperate mind is able to get the better of the emotions, to correct some, and to render others powerless.
19
Why else did Jacob, our most wise father, censure the households of Simeon and Levi for their irrational slaughter of the entire tribe of the Shechemites, saying, "Cursed be their anger"?