Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

Explore the Lexicon

Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 7 · II.7.5h–II.7.5i

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

English Page · Branch 115 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5h–II.7.5i

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 226

Τὰ δι’ αὑτὰ αἱρετὰ καὶ τὰ ποιητικά

II.7.5h

Ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὰ μὲν εἶναι δι’ αὑτὰ αἱρετά, τὰ δὲ ποιητικά. Ὁπόσα μὲν οὖν οὐδενὸς ἄλλου ἕνεκεν εἰς εὔλογον αἵρεσιν ἔρχεται, δι’ αὑτὰ αἱρετά· ὁπόσα δὲ τῷ ἑτέρων τινῶν παρασκευαστικὰ γίνεσθαι, κατὰ τὸ ποιητικὸν λέγεσθαι.

Αἱρετὸν καὶ ἀρεστόν

II.7.5i

Καὶ πᾶν μὲν ἀγαθὸν αἱρετὸν εἶναι· ἀρεστὸν γὰρ καὶ δοκιμαστὸν καὶ ἐπαινετὸν ὑπάρχειν· πᾶν δὲ κακὸν φευκτόν. Τὸ γὰρ ἀγαθὸν καθ’ ὃ μὲν αἵρεσιν εὔλογον κινεῖ, αἱρετόν ἐστι· καθ’ ὃ δὲ ἀνυπόπτως εἰς αἵρεσιν ἔρχεται, ἀρεστόν· ⟨καθ’ ὃ δὲ . . . , δοκιμαστόν⟩· καθ’ ὃ δὲ πάλιν εὐλόγως ἄν τις περὶ αὐτοῦ καθυπολαμβάνοι τῶν ἀπ’ ἀρετῆς εἶναι, ⟨ἐπαινετόν⟩.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 227

What Is Choiceworthy for Itself and What Is Productive

II.7.5h

Again, of goods, some are choiceworthy for themselves and some productive. Whatever enters into reasonable choice for the sake of nothing else is choiceworthy for itself. Whatever does so by furnishing certain other things is described in respect of its productive role.²⁷⁰

Choiceworthy and Pleasing

II.7.5i

Every good is choiceworthy, for it is pleasing, approvable, and praiseworthy; every evil is to be avoided. A good is choiceworthy insofar as it moves reasonable choice; pleasing insofar as it enters into choice without misgiving; ⟨and insofar as [text missing], approvable⟩.²⁷¹ Again, insofar as one might reasonably judge it to be among the things that proceed from virtue, it is ⟨praiseworthy⟩.²⁷²

270.The Greek leaves the second clause compressed; “does so” carries forward entering into reasonable choice. The distinction concerns why a good is chosen. Compare Diogenes’s two senses of “choiceworthy for themselves” at II.7.5b6. Wachsmuth removes a transmitted heading on choiceworthy and avoidable things here; it is not restored as ancient running text.

271.The near-sounding αἱρετόν and ἀρεστόν are distinguished as “choiceworthy” and “pleasing.” The latter is explained through choice without misgiving, ἀνυπόπτως, rather than through a sensation of pleasure. Wachsmuth supplies the frame of the “approvable” clause while leaving its defining words missing. The English preserves both the supplied frame and the gap.

272.The printed καθυπολαμβάνοι is retained in the sense “might judge,” and τῶν ἀπ’ ἀρετῆς as “among the things that proceed from virtue.” The source makes the judgment reasonable, rather than claiming that any praise establishes goodness. Wachsmuth’s supplied final predicate remains bracketed.

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.