Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

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Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 7 · II.7.5b5.1

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5b5.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 196

Τὸ ἀχώριστον τῶν ἀρετῶν

II.7.5b5.1

Πάσας δὲ τὰς ἀρετάς, ὅσαι ἐπιστῆμαί εἰσι καὶ τέχναι, κοινά τε θεωρήματα ἔχειν καὶ τέλος, ὡς εἴρηται, τὸ αὐτό, διὸ καὶ ἀχωρίστους εἶναι· τὸν γὰρ μίαν ἔχοντα πάσας ἔχειν, καὶ τὸν κατὰ μίαν πράττοντα κατὰ πάσας πράττειν. Διαφέρειν δ’ ἀλλήλων τοῖς κεφαλαίοις. Φρονήσεως μὲν γὰρ εἶναι κεφάλαια τὸ μὲν θεωρεῖν καὶ πράττειν, ὃ ποιητέον, προηγουμένως, κατὰ δὲ τὸν δεύτερον λόγον τὸ θεωρεῖν καὶ ἃ δεῖ ἀπονέμειν ⟨καὶ ἃ δεῖ αἱρεῖσθαι καὶ ἃ δεῖ ὑπομένειν⟩, χάριν τοῦ ἀδιαπτώτως πράττειν ὃ ποιητέον.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 197

The Inseparability of the Virtues

II.7.5b5.1

All the virtues that are forms of knowledge and arts have principles in common and, as has been said, the same end. They are therefore inseparable: whoever has one has them all, and whoever acts in accordance with one acts in accordance with them all.²²⁴ They differ from one another in their principal concerns. The principal concerns of practical wisdom are, primarily, considering and doing what should be done; and, secondarily, considering also what should be assigned, ⟨what should be chosen, and what should be endured⟩, so as to do without error what should be done.²²⁵

224.The qualification “that are forms of knowledge and arts” retains the preceding distinction from the capacities arising through exercise. The common end refers back to living in accordance with nature at II.7.5b3. Wachsmuth’s parenthetical printed-page cross-reference is an editorial locator and is not reproduced as part of the ancient Greek sentence. Compare Diogenes Laertius VII.125–126 for a parallel account of the virtues’ mutual implication.

225.Κεφάλαια here are the principal concerns that distinguish the virtues, not separate ultimate ends. Προηγουμένως and κατὰ τὸν δεύτερον λόγον mark primary and secondary consideration. The supplied clauses about choosing and enduring bring the other virtues’ concerns into the account of practical wisdom; the brackets remain visible in both languages.

About This Reading Edition

The complete surviving text of Stobaeus’s second book, through II.46.22, in Ancient Greek and English, with an introduction and 1,541 explanatory notes. All forty-six chapter headings remain, including the notices for chapters whose texts are missing.

Historical Text and Translation

Greek: Curt Wachsmuth, Ioannis Stobaei Anthologii libri duo priores, volumen II (Berlin: Weidmann, 1884), printed p. 1 and pp. 3–264. The supplied edition preserves consequential editorial signs, reconstructed joins, qualified attributions, and missing-text notices. English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes: Diotimos Editions, 2026.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 edition are in the public domain. The supplied English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are published with the site owner’s authorization.