LUX VERITAS

Apocrypha · Chapter 2 of 18

4 Maccabees 2

Philosophy

Reason, therefore, is the mind that with correct logic gives priority to the life of wisdom.

2Wisdom is knowledge of divine and human things and their causes.

3This wisdom is instruction in the law, by which we learn divine things reverently and human things to our advantage.

4The forms of wisdom are prudence, justice, courage and temperance.

5Of these, prudence is supreme, for through it reason governs the passions.

6Of the passions, the two most encompassing are pleasure and pain, and each of these belongs both to the body and to the soul.

7There are many passions that accompany pleasure and pain.

8Before pleasure is desire, and after it is joy.

9Before pain is fear, and after it is sorrow.

10Anger is a passion that combines pleasure and pain, if one reflects on what has happened to him.

In the app you can earn credits by watching a video — download it free

🎧 Listen to this chapter

Natural-voice narration with the verse highlighted in real time — over 300 hours, every book. Subscribers are what keeps the text free for everyone who just wants to read.

Get Premium

Words in this chapter

What these words meant in the original — and where else they appear.

About 4 Maccabees

An apocryphal or pseudepigraphal text — outside the canon of the Western churches, yet widely circulated among ancient Jews and Christians. Published here from a public-domain translation, edited for continuous reading.