INTEMPERANCE. - From the Latin intemperantia, immoderation, it is, in the generic sense, the vice opposed to temperance considered as a general virtue, and denotes the lack of moderation in human acts. In the proper sense, as the temperance (v.) in the strict sense, it is the disordered craving—exceeding, that is, in quantity, manner, time, or otherwise, the limits prescribed by reason—for pleasures connected with acts necessary for the preservation of the individual and of the human species. Its object is therefore principally sensual pleasures and those of touch and taste. It consequently includes the following vices: gluttony, drunkenness whether from alcohol or narcotics, lust, anger, cruelty, pride, curiosity, immodesty, and the like.
In general, the sins of i. are less grave than spiritual sins, but more degrading, because they reduce man to the level of the brute; nor do they in themselves reveal that minimum of intellectual light which appears in the latter. The first remedy is to avoid occasions and, in certain fields, such as that of lust, even to avoid thinking of the objects desired; the second is mortification in all its forms, which renders the will vigilant and strong in overcoming the allurements of the senses.