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.7.5b7.1–II.7.5b7.2

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5b7.1–II.7.5b7.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 202

Ἀρεταὶ καὶ τὸ ἡγεμονικόν

II.7.5b7.1

Ἀρετὰς δ’ εἶναι πλείους φασὶ καὶ ἀχωρίστους ἀπ’ ἀλλήλων, καὶ τὰς αὐτὰς τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ μέρει τῆς ψυχῆς καθ’ ὑπόστασιν, καθ’ ὃ δὴ καὶ σῶμα πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν εἶναί τε καὶ λέγεσθαι, τὴν γὰρ διάνοιαν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν σῶμα εἶναι· τὸ γὰρ συμφυὲς πνεῦμα ἡμῖν ἔνθερμον ὂν ψυχὴν ἡγοῦνται.

Ἀρετὴ ὡς ζῷον

II.7.5b7.2

Βούλονται δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν ψυχὴν ζῷον εἶναι, ζῆν τε γὰρ καὶ αἰσθάνεσθαι· καὶ μάλιστα τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν μέρος αὐτῆς, ὃ δὴ καλεῖται διάνοια. Διὸ καὶ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν ζῷον εἶναι, ἐπειδὴ ἡ αὐτὴ διανοίᾳ ἐστὶ κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν. Κατὰ τοῦτο γάρ φασι καὶ τὴν φρόνησιν φρονεῖν, ἀκολουθεῖ γὰρ αὐτοῖς τὸ οὕτως λέγειν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 203

The Virtues and the Ruling Part of the Soul

II.7.5b7.1

They say that there are several virtues, inseparable from one another, and that in their underlying reality they are the same as the ruling part of the soul. In this respect every virtue both is a body and is called one, for the intellect and the soul are a body.²³¹ They regard as soul the warm breath naturally united with us.²³²

Virtue as a Living Creature

II.7.5b7.2

They also hold that the soul within us is a living creature, since it both lives and perceives; and especially its ruling part, which is called intellect. Every virtue is therefore a living creature too, since in substance it is the same as the intellect.²³³ On this basis they say that practical wisdom itself thinks wisely, for speaking in this way follows from their position.²³⁴

231.“Ruling part” renders ἡγεμονικόν, and “underlying reality” renders ὑπόστασις. The assertion that virtue is a body follows the report’s identification of the virtues with the soul’s ruling part and its corporeal account of soul and intellect. It has not been softened into a claim that virtue merely affects the body. The several virtues remain distinguishable as the preceding account explains.

232.Πνεῦμα is breath, here expressly warm and naturally united with us, συμφυές. In this physical account it should not be read as an independently immaterial spirit. The source’s claims about soul and body belong to its Stoic explanation of how the virtues exist.

233.Ζῷον is a living creature or animal. The striking claim is retained: it follows from the soul’s living and perceiving and from the virtues’ identity in substance with the intellect. It should not be replaced by the weaker metaphor that virtue is lively or vigorous. Οὐσία here concerns substance, not personal possessions.

234.“Practical wisdom itself thinks wisely” preserves the connection between φρόνησις and φρονεῖν. The narrator presents this way of speaking as a consequence of the preceding position, not merely as decorative personification. The English does not silently change the subject to the person who possesses practical wisdom.

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.