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does not allow it to proceed further; by which, while the passion is still inactive, it is easily conquered; but the lazy and negligent man admits the beginnings of pleasures while they are still bare thoughts; and having allowed them to proceed into breadth, he will find the resistance most difficult. For he who has been captured and conquered beforehand is not Lord of his own will; but is rather subject to the conquering passion as to some Barbarian.

From Menander. Temperance is the storehouse of virtue. From Iamblichus, from the Epistles concerning temperance. (741) All virtue despises everything that is mortal, and embraces what is immortal. But temperance holds this zeal in a much pre-eminent way, since it despises the pleasures that nail the soul to the body, and stands on holy foundations, as Plato says. For how does temperance not make us perfect, when it banishes from us all that is imperfect and passionate? You would know that this is so, if you consider Bellerophon, how, striving with propriety, he destroyed the Chimaera and every beastly, wild, and savage tribe. For in general, the excessive dominion of the passions does not even permit men to be men, but draws them toward an irrational, beastly, and disordered nature. Remember hunger and thirst; for these can be of great help to those who pursue temperance. From the Aristognoppoumma. He masters pleasure, not who abstains, but who partakes, yet is not carried away; just as with a ship and a horse, not he who does not use them, but he who guides them where he wishes. From Isaias. I consider it the greatest of services, to provide a daily life that is orderly and temperate. Socrates. the wind kindles fire, and habit kindles love. Alexander. Having taken the daughters of Darius as captives, when his friends advised him to have intercourse with them, since they were beautiful; It is shameful, he said, for men who have conquered men to be conquered by women. The same man, having come to the Illyrians, upon seeing at the altar of Zeus a woman of outstanding beauty, was astonished at her comeliness and gazed for a long time; but when Hephaestion said that it was fitting to take her as a mistress, he said, And how would it not be dreadful, if we who wish to punish the incontinence of others, should ourselves be caught by outsiders serving our own incontinence? From Cleitarchus. Loving what you ought not, you will not love what you ought. For desire is insatiable, and for this reason it is also without resource.

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περαιτέρω προελθεῖν οὐκ ἐᾷ· ᾧ καί ἀδρανές ὄν ἔτι τό πάθος ἥττηται ῥᾳδίως· ὁ δέ ῥᾴθυμος καί κατημελημένος, εἰσδέχεται μέν τάς τῶν ἡδονῶν ἀρχάς ὡς ἐννοίας ἔτι ψιλάς· ἐπιτρέψας δέ προελθεῖν εἰς πλάτος, δυσχερεστάτην εὑρήσει τήν ἀντίστασιν. Ὁ γάρ προαλούς καί προηττημένος, οὐ τῶν ἰδίων ἐστίν θελημάτων Κύριος· ὑπόκειται δέ μᾶλλον καθάπερ τινί Βαρβάρῳ τῷ νικήσαντι πάθει.

Μενάνδρου. Ταμεῖόν ἐστιν ἀρετῆς ἡ σωφροσύνη. Ἰαμβλίχου ἐξ Ἐπιστολῶν περί σωφροσύνης. (741) Πᾶσα μέν ἀρετήν τό θνητοειδές πᾶν ἀτιμάζει, τό δέ ἀθάνατον ἀσπάζεται. Πολύ δέ διαφερόντως ἡ σωφροσύνη ταύτην ἔχει τήν σπουδήν, ἅτε δή τάς προσηλούσας τῷ σώματι τήν ψυχήν ἡδονάς ἀτιμάζουσα, καί ἐν ἁγνοῖς βάθροις βεβῶσα, ὥς φησι Πλάτων. Πῶς γάρ ἡ σωφροσύνη τελείους ἡμᾶς οὐ ποιεῖ, τό ἀτελές καί ἐμπαθές ὅλον ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐξορίζουσα; Γνοίης δ᾿ ἄν ὡς τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, τόν Βελλεροφόντην ἐννοήσας, ὡς μετά τῆς κοσμιότητος συναγωνιζόμενος, τήν Χίμαιραν καί τό θηριῶδες καί ἄγριον καί ἀνήμερον φῦλον πᾶν ἀνεῖλεν. Ὅλως γάρ ἡ τῶν παθῶν ἄμετρος ἐπικράτεια οὐδέ ἀνθρώπους ἀφίησιν εἶναι τούς ἀνθρώπους, πρός δέ τήν ἀλόγιστον αὐτούς ἕλκει φύσιν καί θηριώδη καί ἄτακτον. Μέμνησο λιμοῦ καί δίψους· ταῦτα γάρ δύνανται μεγάλως τοῖς σωφροσύνην διώκουσιν. Ἔκ τῶν Ἀριστογνοππουμμῶν. Κρατεῖ ἡδονῆς, οὐχ ὁ ἀπεχόμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ χρώμενος μέν, μή προεκφερόμενος δέ· ὥσπερ καί νηός καί ἵππου, οὐχ ὁ μή χρώμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μετάγων ὅπου βούλεται. Ἡσαίου. Ἡγοῦμαι μεγίστην εἶναι τῶν λειτουργιῶν, τό καθ᾿ ἡμέραν βίον κόσμιον καί σώφρονα παρέχειν. Σωκράτ. τό μέν πῦρ, ὁ ἄνεμος, τόν δέ ἔρωτα, ἡ συνήθεια ἐκκαίει. Ἀλέξανδρ. Αἰχμαλώτους λαβών τάς ∆αρείου θυγατέρας, ἐπειδή συνεβούλευον αὐτῷ οἱ φίλοι, εὐειδέσιν οὔσαις αὐταῖς συγγενέσθαι· Αἰσχρόν, ἐφη, ἐστίν, ἄνδρας νικήσαντας, ὑπό γυναικῶν ἡττηθῆναι. Ὁ αὐτός εἰς Ἰλλυριούς παραγενόμενος, ἐν τῷ τοῦ ∆ιός βωμῷ κατιδών γυναῖκα κάλλει διαφέρουσαν, ἐκπλαγείς αὐτῆς τήν εὐμορφίαν, πολύν χρόνον ἐθεᾶτο· τοῦ δέ Ἡφαιστίωνος εἰπόντος, ὅτι εἰκός ἐστι παραλαβεῖν αὐτήν ἑρωμένην, ἔφη, Καί πῶς οὐ δεινόν, εἰ οἱ ἄλλων ἀκρασίας κολάζειν βουλόμενοι, δουλεύοντες ἀκρασίαις ὑπό τῶν ἐκτός ἀνθρώπων φωραθῶμεν; Κλειτάρχου. Φιλῶν ἅ μή δεῖ, οὐ φιλήσεις ἅ δεῖ. Ἀπλήρωτον γάρ ἡ ἐπιθυμία, διά τοῦτο καί ἄπορον.