Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 136 of 516
Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.7g.1–II.7.7g.3
Ancient Greek
p. 268Πολλὴ καὶ βραχεῖα ἀξία
Τῶν δ’ ἀξίαν ἐχόντων τὰ μὲν ἔχειν πολλὴν ἀξίαν, τὰ δὲ βραχεῖαν. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀπαξίαν ἐχόντων ἃ μὲν ἔχειν πολλὴν ἀπαξίαν, ἃ δὲ βραχεῖαν. Τὰ μὲν ⟨οὖν⟩ πολλὴν ἔχοντα ἀξίαν προηγμένα λέγεσθαι, τὰ δὲ πολλὴν ἀπαξίαν ἀποπροηγμένα, Ζήνωνος ταύτας τὰς ὀνομασίας θεμένου πρώτου τοῖς πράγμασι. Προηγμένον δ’ εἶναι λέγουσιν, ὃ ἀδιάφορον ⟨ὂν⟩ ἐκλεγόμεθα κατὰ προηγούμενον λόγον. Τὸν δ’ ὅμοιον λόγον ἐπὶ τῷ ἀποπροηγμένῳ εἶναι, καὶ τὰ παραδείγματα κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν ταὐτά.
Ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ οἱ μετ’ αὐτόν
Οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν ἀγαθῶν εἶναι προηγμένον διὰ τὸ τὴν μεγίστην ἀξίαν αὐτὰ ἔχειν. Τὸ δὲ προηγμένον, τὴν δευτέραν χώραν καὶ ἀξίαν ἔχον, συνεγγίζειν πως τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν φύσει· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν αὐλῇ τῶν προηγμένων εἶναι τὸν βασιλέα, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μετ’ αὐτὸν τεταγμένους.
Προτίμησις καὶ εὐδαιμονία
Προηγμένα δὲ λέγεσθαι, οὐ τῷ πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν τινὰ συμβάλλεσθαι συνεργεῖν τε πρὸς αὐτήν, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι τούτων τὴν ἐκλογὴν ποιεῖσθαι παρὰ τὰ ἀποπροηγμένα.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7
p. 269Much and Little Value
Of things that have value, some have much value and others little. Similarly, of things that have disvalue, some have much disvalue and others little. ⟨Therefore⟩ those with much value are called preferred and those with much disvalue dispreferred, Zeno having been the first to give these names to the things. They say that a preferred thing is something which, ⟨being⟩ indifferent, we select on the basis of a predominant reason. The same account applies to a dispreferred thing, and the examples correspond by analogy.337
The King and Those Ranked After Him
None of the goods is preferred, because goods have the greatest value. A preferred thing, occupying the second place and rank in value, comes in some way close to the nature of goods. For at a royal court the king is not among those preferred, but those ranked after him are.338
Preference and Happiness
They are called preferred, not because they make some contribution to happiness and help to bring it about, but because it is necessary to select them in preference to dispreferred things.339
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.7g.1–II.7.7g.3
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.