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.7.5d.1–II.7.5d.2

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5d.1–II.7.5d.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 218

Τὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν κατηγορήματα

II.7.5d.1

Πάντα δὲ τἀγαθὰ ὠφέλιμα εἶναι καὶ εὔχρηστα καὶ συμφέροντα καὶ λυσιτελῆ καὶ σπουδαῖα καὶ πρέποντα καὶ καλὰ καὶ οἰκεῖα· τὰ δὲ κακὰ ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων πάντα βλαβερὰ καὶ δύσχρηστα καὶ ἀσύμφορα καὶ ἀλυσιτελῆ καὶ φαῦλα καὶ ἀπρεπῆ καὶ αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀνοίκεια.

Τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ κακὸν πλεοναχῶς λεγόμενα

II.7.5d.2

Τὸ δ’ ἀγαθὸν λέγεσθαί φασι πλεοναχῶς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον, οἷον πηγῆς ἔχον χώραν, ὅπερ οὕτως ἀποδίδοσθαι· ἀφ’ οὗ συμβαίνει ὠφελεῖσθαι ἢ ὑφ’ οὗ (τὸ δὲ πρώτως εἶναι αἴτιον)· τὸ ⟨δὲ⟩ δεύτερον, καθ’ ὃ συμβαίνει ὠφελεῖσθαι· κοινότερον δὲ καὶ διατεῖνον καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ προειρημένα, τὸ οἷον ὠφελεῖν. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸ κακὸν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀναλογίαν ὑπογράφεσθαι. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀφ’ οὗ συμβαίνει βλάπτεσθαι ἢ ὑφ’ οὗ· τὸ δὲ καθ’ ὃ συμβαίνει βλάπτεσθαι· κοινότερον δὲ τούτων τὸ οἷον βλάπτειν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 219

Descriptions of Goods and Evils

II.7.5d.1

All goods are beneficial, useful, advantageous, profitable, worthy, fitting, noble, and congenial. All evils, by contrast, have the opposite descriptions: harmful, difficult to use, disadvantageous, unprofitable, base, unfitting, shameful, and uncongenial.²⁵⁶

The Several Senses of Good and Evil

II.7.5d.2

They say that “good” has several senses. The first occupies, as it were, the place of a source, and is defined thus: that from which, or by which, one comes to be benefited (the latter being a cause in the primary sense). ⟨And⟩ the second is that in accordance with which one comes to be benefited. A more general sense, extending also to the foregoing, is what is such as to benefit.²⁵⁷ Evil is likewise defined by analogy with good: that from which, or by which, one comes to be harmed; that in accordance with which one comes to be harmed; and, more generally than these, what is such as to harm.²⁵⁸

256.The eight descriptions and their eight opposites retain the order of the Greek. Several English terms overlap, as do the Greek expressions; they are not separate classes of good. Εὔχρηστα and δύσχρηστα concern use, while οἰκεῖα and ἀνοίκεια express congeniality or its opposite. Καλόν retains its ethical sense, “noble,” beside αἰσχρόν, “shameful.”

257.The definition distinguishes ἀφ’ οὗ, “from which,” ὑφ’ οὗ, “by which,” and καθ’ ὅ, “in accordance with which.” The compressed parenthesis is read as specifying the causal force of “by which.” Wachsmuth rearranges transmitted wording in this difficult sentence; the English follows his printed order and preserves the parenthesis. The image is of a source or spring, πηγή.

258.The general formulation, τὸ οἷον ὠφελεῖν, describes what is such as to benefit and includes the preceding senses. The evil series repeats the distinctions using harm, but has no corresponding causal parenthesis. The English does not add one. The supplied δέ is represented by bracketed “and.”

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.