11. All people, including the ones who tortured them, were amazed at their courage and patient endurance. What’s more, they caused the defeat of the tyranny that had oppressed their nation. They conquered the tyrant by their endurance. As a result, their homeland was purged of its filth through their actions.
12. I will say more about this shortly. First I will begin with my main point, as is my custom, and then I will return to their story, giving glory to God, who possesses all wisdom.
13. So we are exploring the question of whether clear thinking has full power over the emotions.
14. We need to define what careful reasoning is, what we mean by emotion, how many different kinds of emotions there are, and whether clear thinking has full power over all these things.
15. Clear thinking then is the mind-set that uses plain logic to choose the life of wisdom.
16. Next, wisdom is the knowledge of divine and human behavior and what causes the behavior.
17. This knowledge in turn comes from the instruction provided by the Law, through which we learn about divine matters reverently and human matters to our advantage.
18. The different kinds of wisdom are good judgment, justice, courage, and self-control.
19. Good judgment is the ruler among these kinds of wisdom, because clear thinking controls the emotions with it.
20. There are two general categories of emotions: pleasure and pain. Each of these shows up in different ways in the body and in the soul.
21. Several other emotions accompany pleasure and pain.
22. Desire comes before pleasure, and joy follows it.