1 Is it any wonder? Ifthe lusts ofthe soul,
after participation with what is beautiful,
are frustrated,

2 on this ground, therefore, the temperate
Joseph is praised in that by reasoning,
he subdued, on reflection, the indulgence
of the senses.

3 For, althoughyoung, andripe for sexual
intercourse, he nullified by reasoning the
stimulus of his emotions.

4 It isn’t merely the stimulus of sensual
indulgence, but that of every desire, that
reasoning is able to master.

5 For instance, the law says, “You shall
not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor anything
that belongs to your neighbor.”

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.

7 Since in what way is a solitary eater, a
glutton, and a drunkard reclaimed, unless
it is clear that reasoning is lord of the emotions?

8 Therefore, 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.

9 If 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.

10 For the law conquers even affection
toward parents, not surrendering virtue
on their account.

11 It prevails over love for one’s wife,
rebuking her when she breaks the law.

12 It 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.