The Merit Of Temperance

Passionum autem velut duces naturales delectatio et dolor, quas sequuntur caeterae. Illae enim complectuntur universas, quarum utraque non solum corporis, sed etiam secundum animam passiones sunt. Et quia diximus subesse his alias passiones, ante delectationem concupiscentia, post delectationem gratulatio est: ante dolorem autem est timor, post dolorem tristita. Commotio autem animi communis passio, et delectationis et doloris est. Transcurram alias, id est, superbiam, avaritiam, ambitionem, contentionem, invidiam, quae sunt secundum animam passiones: transcurram etiam inexplebilem vorandi libidinem, effusionemque luxuriae atque lasciviae, quae vitia nexa sunt corpori, et secundum illud operantur. Meritoque temperantia quam maxime istarum passionum restinguit ardorem, quae primum sobrietate atque moderamine animum temperat, mentem informat, deinde etiam deliciarum abstinentia restringit habenas corporalis ferocitatis. Ideo lex recidit ciborum licentiam, epularum copias, non solum ut resecaret luxuriam, verum tractationi rationis aperiret, quae irritamenta gulae caeterasque recideret cupiditates, corporeas passiones motusque cohiberet. Temperantia est igitur correctionis praevia, disciplinae magistra. Ab hac profectus Jacob sanctus, primatus a fratre quos non habebat, accepit, ejusque praelatus assensu docuit in reliquum in temperantes proprio sibi viles esse judicio. Ab hac profectus Joseph, et calorem juventutis edomuit, et tentatum adulterinis animum illecebris rectae rationis inductione firmavit. Denique quamvis fortis esset et validus, tamen tractatu rationis fulcire se maluit, dicens uxori domini sui: Si dominus meus non scit praeter me aliquid in domo sua, et omnia quaecunque habet, dedit in manus meas, neque subtractum est a me quidquam praeter te quae uxor illius es: et quomodo faciam verbum hoc malum, et peccabo coram Deo. Haec est igitur rectae rationis tractatio quam Graeci λογισμὸν nuncupant, qua mens sapientiae intenta solidatur. Pulchra enim ratio, quod nec beneficiis domini esse deberet ingratus, nec occultum posset esse peccatum, quod, Deo teste, commmitteret, quem latere non posset. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Jacob et Vita Beata, Lib I Source:  Migne PL 14 630-31

Pleasure and pain are the natural leaders of the passions, which the rest follow. For they indeed embrace everything, both of them not only the passions of the body, but also of the soul. And indeed we have said that there are other passions attendant to these, before pleasure desire, after pleasure happiness, before pain fear, after pain sorrow. A common commotion, then, of the soul is a passion, and it is of pleasure or pain. I shall pass over other things, that is, pride and avarice and ambition, contention, envy, which are passions according to the soul; I shall even pass over devouring insatiable lust, and the flood of luxury and lascivity, which are vices bound to the body and which work according to it. With merit temperance greatly extinguishes the fire of these passions, first soothing the soul with sobriety and moderation, then shaping the mind, and then with abstinence it binds back the corporeal wildness from such pleasures. Thus the law curtails licence in foodstuffs, 1 excess in feasting, not only that it bind back lust, but that it open up the practice of reason, which the distractions of gluttony and the rest of the desires occlude, and it represses the disturbances of corporeal passions. Temperance is therefore the beginning of correction, a teacher of discipline. By this the holy Jacob profited, receiving the birthright which he did not have from his brother, whose assent to the exchange teaches how vile the judgement is when there is a lack of temperance. 2 And by this Joseph profited, taming the heat of youth and strengthening the soul to right reason in the snare of adultery. Then, although he was robust and healthy, he preferred to support himself by the counsel of reason, saying to the wife of his master, 'If my master does not know without me the things of his house and everything which he has, if he has given it into my hands and nothing is withheld from me, apart from you who are his wife; how then might I agree to this evil proposal and sin before God?' 3 This, then, is that management of reason which the Greeks name 'logismos', which fortifies the mind with wisdom. Reason is beautiful, that it can neither be ungrateful for the goods of the Lord, nor is it able to hide what is at fault, which, with God as witness, should it commit, it would not able to conceal. Saint Ambrose, from On Jacob and the Good Life, Book 1 1.Levit 11.4,23 2 Gen 25.35 3 Gen 39.7-9