Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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English Page · Branch 137 of 516
Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.8.1–II.7.8.2
Ancient Greek
p. 270Ὅρος τοῦ καθήκοντος
Ἀκόλουθος δ’ ἐστὶ τῷ λόγῳ τῷ περὶ τῶν προηγμένων ὁ περὶ τοῦ καθήκοντος τόπος. Ὁρίζεται δὲ τὸ καθῆκον· ‘τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐν ζωῇ, ὃ πραχθὲν εὔλογον ἀπολογίαν ἔχει’· παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον δὲ τὸ ἐναντίως. Τοῦτο διατείνει καὶ εἰς τὰ ἄλογα τῶν ζῴων, ἐνεργεῖ γὰρ τι κἀκεῖνα ἀκολούθως τῇ ἑαυτῶν φύσει· ἐπὶ ⟨δὲ⟩ τῶν λογικῶν ζῴων οὕτως ἀποδίδοται· ‘τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἐν βίῳ’.
Κατορθώματα καὶ μέσα καθήκοντα
Τῶν δὲ καθηκόντων τὰ μὲν εἶναί φασι τέλεια, ἃ δὴ καὶ κατορθώματα λέγεσθαι. Κατορθώματα δ’ εἶναι τὰ κατ’ ἀρετὴν ἐνεργήματα, οἷον τὸ φρονεῖν, τὸ δικαιοπραγεῖν. Οὐκ εἶναι δὲ κατορθώματα τὰ μὴ οὕτως ἔχοντα, ἃ δὴ οὐδὲ τέλεια καθήκοντα προσαγορεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ μέσα, οἷον τὸ γαμεῖν, τὸ πρεσβεύειν, τὸ διαλέγεσθαι, τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7
p. 271Definition of Appropriate Action
Following the account of preferred things comes the topic of appropriate action. Appropriate action is defined as “what is consistent in life and, when done, admits of a reasonable defense”; what is contrary to appropriate action is the opposite.340 This extends also to nonrational animals, for they too do something consistently with their own nature. For rational animals it is formulated thus: “what is consistent in a way of life.”341
Correct Actions and Intermediate Appropriate Actions
Some appropriate actions, they say, are complete, and these are also called correct actions. Correct actions are activities in accordance with virtue, such as thinking wisely and acting justly. Those which are not of this kind are not correct actions; they call them intermediate appropriate actions, rather than complete ones, such as marrying, serving as an ambassador, engaging in discussion, and the like.342
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.8.1–II.7.8.2
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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.