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.7.5o

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5o

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Ancient Greek

p. 236

Αἱρετὸν καὶ ληπτόν

II.7.5o

Διαφέρειν δὲ λέγουσιν αἱρετὸν καὶ ληπτόν. Αἱρετὸν μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τὸ ὁρμῆς αὐτοτελοῦς κινητικόν, ⟨ληπτὸν δὲ ὃ εὐλογίστως ἐκλεγόμεθα⟩. Ὅσῳ δὲ διαφέρει τὸ αἱρετὸν τοῦ ληπτοῦ, τοσούτῳ καὶ τὸ ⟨καθ’⟩ αὑθ’ αἱρετὸν τοῦ καθ’ αὑτὸ ληπτοῦ, καὶ καθόλου τὸ ἀγαθὸν τοῦ ἀξίαν ἔχοντος.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 237

Choiceworthy and To Be Taken

II.7.5o

They say that what is choiceworthy differs from what is to be taken. What is choiceworthy moves an impulse complete in itself; ⟨what is to be taken is what we reasonably select⟩.²⁸⁵ As what is choiceworthy differs from what is to be taken, so what is choiceworthy ⟨for⟩ itself differs from what is to be taken for itself, and, in general, the good differs from what has value.²⁸⁶

285.Αἱρετόν is “choiceworthy,” while ληπτόν is “to be taken.” The distinction is expressed through impulse and reasonable selection, not merely through two English synonyms for desire. The whole definition of what is to be taken is supplied by Wachsmuth and remains bracketed in both languages. “Complete in itself” renders αὐτοτελής without adding a separate object for the impulse.

286.The passage extends the distinction to what is choiceworthy for itself and what is to be taken for itself, then to good and value. The supplied καθ’ in the first expression is represented by bracketed “for.” Wachsmuth suspects missing material before this paragraph in his apparatus, but prints no gap marker in the running text; no invented continuation is inserted here.

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.