4 Maccabees 3:18

¹⁶Wherefore, setting up reasoning in opposition to his desire, he poured out the draft to God.

¹⁷For the temperate mind has power to conquer the pressure of the passions, and to quench the fires of excitement,

— 4 Maccabees 3:18 —

¹⁹But the occasion now invites us to give an illustration of temperate reasoning from history.

²⁰For at a time when our fathers were in possession of undisturbed peace through obedience to the law, and were prosperous, so that Seleucus Nicanor, the king of Asia, both assigned them money for divine service, and accepted their form of government,