18 and to wrestle down the pains of the body, however excessive; and, through the excellency of reasoning, to abominate all the assaults of the passions.
19 But the occasion now invites us to give an illustration of temperate reasoning from history.
20 For 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,
21 then certain persons, bringing in new things contrary to the general unanimity, in various ways fell into calamities.