Maccabes 4

For those that have not read the story of Eleazar, the seven brothers, and their mother, may want to make sure you have a box of tissues available to wipe away the many tears you will shed as we delve into the profundity of this book and it's message for this the fig-tree generation where many will wash their robes white in the blood of martyrdom. [1] The subject that I am about to discuss is most philosophical, that is, whether devout reason is sovereign over the emotions. So it is right for me to advise you to pay earnest attention to philosophy. [2] For the subject is essential to everyone who is seeking knowledge, and in addition it includes the praise of the highest virtue -- I mean, of course, rational judgment. [3] If, then, it is evident that reason rules over those emotions that hinder self-control, namely, gluttony and lust, [4] it is also clear that it masters the emotions that hinder one from justice, such as malice, and those that stand in the way of courage, namely anger, fear, and pain. [5] Some might perhaps ask, "If reason rules the emotions, why is it not sovereign over forgetfulness and ignorance?" Their attempt at argument is ridiculous! [6] For reason does not rule its own emotions, but those that are opposed to justice, courage, and self-control; and it is not for the purpose of destroying them, but so that one may not give way to them. - Maccabes 4:1