Brenton's Septuagint · Under the Greeks
4 Maccabees 2
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1And what wonder? if the lusts of the , after participation with what is beautiful, are frustrated, 2on this ground, therefore, the temperate Joseph is praised in that by reasoning, he subdued, on reflection, the indulgence of sense. 3For, although young, and ripe for sexual intercourse, he abrogated by reasoning the stimulus of his passions. 4And it is not merely the stimulus of sensual indulgence, but that of every , that reasoning is able to master. 5For instance, says, Thou shalt not thy neighbour's wife, nor anything that belongs to thy neighbour. 6Now, then, since it is which has forbidden us to , I shall much the more easily persuade you, that reasoning is able to govern our lusts, as it does the affections which are impediments to justice. 7Since in what way is a solitary eater, and a glutton, and a drunkard reclaimed, unless it be clear that reasoning is of the passions? 8A man, therefore, who regulates his course by , even if he be a lover of money, straightway puts force upon his own disposition; lending to without interest, and cancelling the debt of the incoming . 9And should a man be parsimonious, he is ruled by acting through reasoning; so that he does not his harvest crops, nor vintage: and in reference to other points we may perceive that it is reasoning that conquers his passions. 10For conquers even affection toward parents, not surrendering virtue on their account. 11And it prevails over marriage love, condemning it when transgressing law. 12And it lords it over the love of parents toward their children, for they punish them for vice; and it domineers over the intimacy of friends, reproving them when . 13And think it not a strange assertion that reasoning can in behalf of conquer even enmity. 14It alloweth not to cut down the cultivated herbage of an enemy, but preserveth it from the destroyers, and collecteth their fallen ruins. 15And reasoning appears to be master of the more passions, as love of empire and empty boasting, and arrogance, and loud boasting, and slander. 16For the temperate understanding repels all these malignant passions, as it does : for it masters even this. 17Thus , when angered against and , did nothing to them in , but regulated his by reasoning. 18For the temperate is able, as I said, to be superior to the passions, and to transfer some, and destroy others. 19For why, else, does our most blame Simeon and Levi for having irrationally slain the whole race of the Shechemites, saying, be their . 20For if reasoning did not possess the of subduing angry affections, he would not have spoken thus. 21For at the time when created man, He implanted within him his passions and moral nature. 22And at that time He enthroned above all the leader , through the of the senses. 23And He gave a law to this [], by living according to which it will maintain a temperate, and , and good, and manly reign. 24How, then, a man may say, if reasoning be master of the passions, has it no control over forgetfulness and ignorance?
Sir Lancelot Brenton's 1851 English translation of the Greek Old Testament, public domain. Used here for books received in Orthodox canons that the other editions do not carry. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under the Greeks, 332 BC to 63 BC ›
Alexander's conquest and the kingdoms of his successors. Greek language and custom press in everywhere, and the crisis under Antiochus IV provokes the Maccabean revolt.
- The successors
- Alexander dies at thirty-two and his generals carve up the empire. Judea sits on the border between the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria, and is fought over by both for a century and a half, which is the ordinary condition of the corridor.
- Hellenism
- Not just conquest but a culture: the gymnasium, the theatre, Greek names, Greek dress, Greek as the language of anyone with ambitions. Some Jews embraced it, some resisted it, and the argument between them is the real subject of the Maccabean books. In Alexandria the Hebrew scriptures are translated into Greek, producing the Septuagint, which is the Bible most New Testament writers quote.
- The crisis
- Antiochus IV bans the practice of Judaism, plunders the temple, and sets up a pagan altar in it in 167 BC. The revolt under the Maccabees wins, the temple is rededicated in 164 BC, which is the origin of Hanukkah, and Judea has about eighty years of independence under the Hasmoneans before Rome arrives.
- Further afield
- Rome fights Carthage three times and ends up master of the Mediterranean. Euclid writes the Elements and Archimedes does his work at Syracuse. In China the Qin unify the country in 221 BC and the Han follow, opening what becomes the Silk Road.