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.7.5g.1–II.7.5g.2

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

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Ancient Greek

p. 224

Ἀγαθὰ τελικὰ καὶ ποιητικά

II.7.5g.1

Τῶν τε ἀγαθῶν τὰ μὲν εἶναι τελικά, τὰ δὲ ποιητικά, τὰ δὲ ἀμφοτέρως ἔχοντα. Ὁ μὲν οὖν φρόνιμος ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ φίλος ποιητικὰ μόνον ἐστὶν ἀγαθά· χαρὰ δὲ καὶ εὐφροσύνη καὶ θάρσος καὶ φρονίμη περιπάτησις τελικὰ μόνον ἐστὶν ἀγαθά· αἱ δ’ ἀρεταὶ πᾶσαι καὶ ποιητικά ἐστιν ἀγαθὰ καὶ τελικά, καὶ γὰρ ἀπογεννῶσι τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν καὶ συμπληροῦσι, μέρη αὐτῆς γινόμεναι.

Κακὰ τελικὰ καὶ ποιητικά

II.7.5g.2

Ἀνάλογον δὲ καὶ τῶν κακῶν τὰ μέν ἐστι ποιητικὰ τῆς κακοδαιμονίας, τὰ δὲ τελικά, τὰ δὲ ἀμφοτέρως ἔχοντα. Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἄφρων ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ ἐχθρὸς ποιητικὰ μόνον ἐστὶ κακά· λύπη δὲ καὶ φόβος καὶ κλοπὴ καὶ ἄφρων ἐρώτησις καὶ τὰ ὅμοια τελικὰ ⟨μόνον ἐστὶ κακά⟩· αἱ δὲ κακίαι καὶ ποιητικὰ καὶ τελικά ἐστι κακά· ἀπογεννῶσι γὰρ τὴν κακοδαιμονίαν καὶ συμπληροῦσι, μέρη αὐτῆς γινόμεναι.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 225

Goods as Ends and Goods That Produce Happiness

II.7.5g.1

Of goods, some are final, some productive, and some both. The wise person and the friend are productive goods only. Joy, gladness, confidence, and wise walking are final goods only.²⁶⁶ All the virtues are both productive and final goods: they both bring happiness into being and complete it by becoming parts of it.²⁶⁷

Evils as Ends and Evils That Produce Unhappiness

II.7.5g.2

Correspondingly, of evils, some produce unhappiness, some are final, and some both. The foolish person and the enemy are productive evils only. Distress, fear, theft, a foolish question, and similar things ⟨are evils only⟩ of the final kind.²⁶⁸ The vices are both productive and final evils: they bring unhappiness into being and complete it by becoming parts of it.²⁶⁹

266.“Final” renders τελικά, goods that belong to the end; “productive” renders ποιητικά, goods that bring happiness about. The examples are those of this source. In particular, θάρσος is confidence, not the virtue ἀνδρεία, courage, and walking retains the qualification “wise.”

267.The virtues have both roles: they produce happiness and constitute parts of its completion. “Productive” therefore does not mean that every productive good is merely an external instrument. Compare the corresponding classification in Diogenes Laertius VII.96–97, while retaining the examples printed here.

268.The supplied μόνον ἐστὶ κακά completes the predication after τελικά. Its English equivalent remains bracketed, although English word order places it before “of the final kind.” The source lists theft, κλοπή, and a foolish question, ἄφρων ἐρώτησις; neither has been replaced by an example from the good series.

269.Κακοδαιμονία is unhappiness or a wretched condition of life, the counterpart of εὐδαιμονία. “Final” concerns a constitutive role in that condition; it does not say that unhappiness is an end one should seek. The source repeats the productive and constitutive roles when explaining the vices.

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.