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.7.6f.1–II.7.6f.2

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.6f.1–II.7.6f.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 248

Αἱρετὸν καὶ αἱρετέον

II.7.6f.1

Διαφέρειν δὲ λέγουσι τὸ αἱρετὸν καὶ τὸ αἱρετέον. Αἱρετὸν μὲν εἶναι ⟨ἀγαθὸν⟩ πᾶν, αἱρετέον δὲ ὠφέλημα πᾶν, ὃ θεωρεῖται παρὰ τὸ ἔχειν τὸ ἀγαθόν. Δι’ ὃ αἱρούμεθα μὲν τὸ αἱρετέον, οἷον τὸ φρονεῖν, ὃ θεωρεῖται παρὰ τὸ ἔχειν φρόνησιν· τὸ δὲ αἱρετὸν οὐχ αἱρούμεθα, ἀλλ’ εἰ ἄρα, ἔχειν αὐτὸ αἱρούμεθα.

Ὑπομονὴ καὶ ἐμμονή

II.7.6f.2

Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀγαθὰ πάντα ἐστὶν ὑπομενετὰ καὶ ἐμμενετὰ καὶ ἀνάλογον ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἐστιν, εἰ καὶ μὴ κατωνόμασται· τὰ δὲ ὠφελήματα πάντα ὑπομενετέα καὶ ἐμμενετέα. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ τὰς κακίας.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 249

Choiceworthy and To Be Chosen

II.7.6f.1

They say that what is choiceworthy differs from what is to be chosen. Every ⟨good⟩ is choiceworthy; every benefit is to be chosen, and is considered in connection with having the good.³⁰⁵ We therefore choose what is to be chosen, for example thinking wisely, which is considered in connection with having practical wisdom. We do not choose what is choiceworthy; if anything, we choose to have it.³⁰⁶

Endurance and Adherence

II.7.6f.2

Similarly, all goods are worthy of being endured and held to, and the same analogy applies to the other virtues, even if they have not been named. All benefits, however, are to be endured and held to.³⁰⁷ The same account applies to the other cases concerning the vices.³⁰⁸

305.The distinction is between αἱρετόν, “choiceworthy,” and the verbal adjective αἱρετέον, “to be chosen.” It differs from the αἱρετόν / ληπτόν distinction at II.7.5o. Ὠφέλημα is a benefit, distinguished here from ἀγαθόν, a good. The supplied ἀγαθόν remains bracketed in English.

306.The example makes the distinction concrete: practical wisdom is the good one has, while thinking wisely is the activity chosen in connection with having it. The apparently paradoxical final sentence is retained, including εἰ ἄρα, “if anything.” It does not silently become the simpler claim that all goods are chosen.

307.The pairs ὑπομενετά / ὑπομενετέα and ἐμμενετά / ἐμμενετέα extend the preceding distinction between what is choiceworthy and what is to be chosen. The translation uses “worthy of being” and “to be” to keep the verbal-adjective contrast visible. The Greek applies the first pair of descriptions to all goods, not just to hardships.

308.Wachsmuth prints ἀρετῶν, “virtues,” where his apparatus records αἱρετῶν, “choiceworthy things.” The English follows the printed reading, and retains the compressed concluding reference to the vices without inventing a list of opposite activities. His apparatus also notes that the discussion recurs later, on printed pp. 97–98.

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.