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.7.11f.1–II.7.11f.2

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11f.1–II.7.11f.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 312

Αἱρετὸν ὀρεκτὸν βουλητὸν καὶ ἀποδεκτόν

II.7.11f.1

Διαφέρειν δὲ λέγουσιν, ὥσπερ αἱρετὸν καὶ αἱρετέον, οὕτω καὶ ὀρεκτὸν καὶ ὀρεκτέον καὶ βουλητὸν καὶ βουλητέον καὶ ἀποδεκτὸν καὶ ἀποδεκτέον. Αἱρετὰ μὲν γὰρ εἶναι καὶ βουλητὰ καὶ ὀρεκτὰ ⟨καὶ ἀποδεκτὰ τἀγαθά· τὰ δ’ ὠφελήματα αἱρετέα καὶ βουλητέα καὶ ὀρεκτέα⟩ καὶ ἀποδεκτέα, κατηγορήματα ὄντα, παρακείμενα δ’ ἀγαθοῖς.

Τὸ ἔχειν καὶ τὰ κατηγορήματα

II.7.11f.2

Αἱρεῖσθαι μὲν γὰρ ἡμᾶς τὰ αἱρετέα καὶ βούλεσθαι τὰ βουλητέα καὶ ὀρέγεσθαι τὰ ὀρεκτέα. Κατηγορημάτων γὰρ αἵ τε αἱρέσεις καὶ ὀρέξεις καὶ βουλήσεις γίνονται, ὥσπερ καὶ αἱ ὁρμαί· ἔχειν μέντοι αἱρούμεθα καὶ βουλόμεθα καὶ ὁμοίως ὀρεγόμεθα τἀγαθά, διὸ καὶ αἱρετὰ καὶ βουλητὰ καὶ ὀρεκτὰ τἀγαθά ἐστι. Τὴν γὰρ φρόνησιν αἱρούμεθα ἔχειν καὶ τὴν σωφροσύνην, οὐ μὰ Δία τὸ φρονεῖν καὶ σωφρονεῖν, ἀσώματα ὄντα καὶ κατηγορήματα.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 313

Choice Desire Wish and Acceptance

II.7.11f.1

They say that, just as what is choiceworthy differs from what is to be chosen, so what is worthy of desire differs from what is to be desired, what is worthy of wish from what is to be wished for, and what is worthy of acceptance from what is to be accepted.⁴⁰⁸ For ⟨goods⟩ are choiceworthy, worthy of wish and desire ⟨and acceptance; benefits, however, are to be chosen, wished for, and desired⟩ and accepted, being predicates associated with goods.⁴⁰⁹

Having and Predicates

II.7.11f.2

For we choose what is to be chosen, wish for what is to be wished for, and desire what is to be desired. Choices, desires, and wishes concern predicates, just as impulses do.⁴¹⁰ We do, however, choose, wish, and likewise desire to have goods; hence goods are choiceworthy, worthy of wish, and worthy of desire. For we choose to have practical wisdom and temperance—not, by Zeus, to have “thinking wisely” and “exercising temperance,” which are incorporeal and predicates.⁴¹¹

408.The verbal-adjective contrast, -τός / -τέος, extends the distinction at II.7.6f.1. “Worthy of” and “to be” keep it visible without merging the four kinds of orientation. Βούλησις remains “wish,” as in II.7.9a.2, rather than the passion “craving.”

409.Wachsmuth’s long supplement runs from καὶ ἀποδεκτά through ὀρεκτέα, including τἀγαθά, “goods.” English requires the subject earlier, so that supplied word is separately bracketed at its translated position; the rest of the supplied span follows. Benefits are called predicates associated with goods. They are not simply identified with the goods themselves.

410.Compare II.7.9b, where impulses are directed toward predicates and assents toward propositions. This paragraph explains why one chooses an activity associated with a good, while choosing to have the good itself.

411.The contrast concerns having. As Wachsmuth explains in the apparatus, ἔχειν, “to have,” is understood again with “thinking wisely” and “exercising temperance.” Those activities are predicates, whereas practical wisdom and temperance are the virtues one has. The sentence therefore does not prohibit choosing virtuous activity, which II.7.6f.1 explicitly presents as chosen. “By Zeus” retains the source’s emphatic μὰ Δία.

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.