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.7.5b5.3–II.7.5b6

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5b5.3–II.7.5b6

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Ancient Greek

p. 200

Παναίτιος · τοξόται καὶ σκοπός

II.7.5b5.3

Ὅμοιον γὰρ ἔλεγεν εἶναι ὁ Παναίτιος τὸ συμβαῖνον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρετῶν, ὡς εἰ πολλοῖς τοξόταις εἷς σκοπὸς εἴη κείμενος, ἔχοι δ’ οὗτος ἐν αὑτῷ γραμμὰς διαφόρους τοῖς χρώμασιν· εἶθ’ ἕκαστος μὲν στοχάζοιτο τοῦ τυχεῖν τοῦ σκοποῦ, ἤδη δ’ ὁ μὲν διὰ τοῦ πατάξαι εἰς τὴν λευκὴν εἰ τύχοι γραμμήν, ὁ δὲ διὰ τοῦ εἰς τὴν μέλαιναν, ἄλλος ⟨δὲ⟩ διὰ τοῦ εἰς ἄλλο τι χρῶμα γραμμῆς. Καθάπερ γὰρ τούτους ὡς μὲν ἀνωτάτω τέλος ποιεῖσθαι τὸ τυχεῖν τοῦ σκοποῦ, ἤδη δ’ ἄλλον κατ’ ἄλλον τρόπον προτίθεσθαι τὴν τεῦξιν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τὰς ἀρετὰς πάσας ποιεῖσθαι μὲν τέλος τὸ εὐδαιμονεῖν, ὅ ἐστι κείμενον ἐν τῷ ζῆν ὁμολογουμένως τῇ φύσει, τούτου δ’ ἄλλην κατ’ ἄλλον τυγχάνειν.

Διογένης · τὰ δι’ αὑτὰ αἱρετά

II.7.5b6

Διττῶς δέ φησιν ὁ Διογένης λέγεσθαι τὰ δι’ αὑτὰ αἱρετά, ⟨τὰ⟩ καὶ τελικῶς αἱρετά, ὡς ἔχει τὰ ἐν τῇ προειρημένῃ διαιρέσει κατατεταγμένα, τὰ δὲ ὅσα ἐν αὑτοῖς ἔχει τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ αἱρετὰ εἶναι, ὅπερ παντὶ ἀγαθῷ ὑπάρχει.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 201

Panaetius on the Archers and the Target

II.7.5b5.3

Panaetius said that what happens with the virtues is like this: suppose a single target were set before several archers, with lines upon it differing in color. Each would aim to hit the target, but one would do so by striking the white line, for example; another, the black; ⟨and⟩ another, a line of some other color.²²⁸ Just as these archers make hitting the target their highest end, while each proposes a different way of hitting it, so all the virtues make happiness their end, which consists in living in agreement with nature, while each attains it in a different way.²²⁹

Diogenes on What Is Choiceworthy for Itself

II.7.5b6

Diogenes says that “choiceworthy for themselves” is used in two ways: ⟨things⟩ that are also choiceworthy as ends, as are those classified in the foregoing division; and things that contain within themselves the reason for being choiceworthy, which belongs to every good.²³⁰

228.The comparison is explicitly attributed to Panaetius. It has one target, with differently colored lines; the translation does not replace it with several separate targets. Wachsmuth’s bibliographical reference after the name is editorial and is omitted from the ancient text. The supplied connective δέ is represented by the bracketed “and.”

229.The shared end is happiness, explained here through living in agreement with nature. The differing lines illustrate differing ways of attaining that end. The comparison thus preserves both a common orientation and distinct principal concerns; it does not give each virtue a different final good. Σκοπός remains “target,” while τέλος remains “end.”

230.Wachsmuth’s bibliographical reference identifies the Stoic Diogenes of Babylon, not Diogenes Laertius or Diogenes the Cynic. The reference is omitted from the ancient Greek sentence. The distinction concerns being chosen as an end and having the reason for one’s choiceworthiness within oneself. The latter is said of every good; the two senses should not be collapsed. The editor’s supplied article is represented by the bracketed “things.”

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.