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.7.7a.2–II.7.7b.1

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.7a.2–II.7.7b.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 254

Πρὸς τί ἐστιν ἀδιάφορα

II.7.7a.2

Ποιεῖσθαι δὲ λέγουσι τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον ⟨ἀπὸ⟩ τῶν πρώτων κατὰ φύσιν καὶ παρὰ φύσιν. Τὸ γὰρ διαφέρον καὶ τὸ ἀδιάφορον τῶν πρός τι λεγομένων εἶναι. Διότι κἂν, φασί, λέγωμεν ἀδιάφορα τὰ σωματικὰ καὶ τὰ ἐκτός, πρὸς τὸ εὐσχημόνως ζῆν (ἐν ᾧπέρ ἐστι τὸ εὐδαιμόνως) ἀδιάφορά φαμεν αὐτὰ εἶναι, οὐ μὰ Δία πρὸς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχειν οὐδὲ πρὸς ὁρμὴν καὶ ἀφορμήν.

Προηγμένα καὶ ἀποπροηγμένα

II.7.7b.1

Ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀδιαφόρων τὰ μὲν πλείο ἀξίαν ἔχειν, τὰ δ’ ἐλάττω· καὶ τὰ μὲν καθ’ αὑτά, τὰ δὲ ποιητικά· καὶ τὰ μὲν προηγμένα, τὰ δ’ ἀποπροηγμένα, τὰ δ’ οὐδετέρως ἔχοντα. Προηγμένα μέν, ὅσα ἀδιάφορα ὄντα πολλὴν ἔχει ἀξίαν, ὡς ἐν ἀδιαφόροις· ἀποπροηγμένα δέ, ὅσα πολλὴν ἔχει ἀπαξίαν ὁμοίως· οὔτε δὲ προηγμένα οὔτε ἀποπροηγμένα, ὅσα μήτε πολλὴν ἔχει ⟨ἀξίαν μήτε⟩ ἀπαξίαν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 255

In What Respect They Are Indifferent

II.7.7a.2

They say that the account of these things is to be made ⟨from⟩ the primary things in accordance with and contrary to nature. For what makes a difference and what is indifferent belong among things spoken of in relation to something.³¹⁴ Thus, they say, even when we call bodily and external things indifferent, we say they are indifferent in relation to living becomingly, in which living happily consists; by Zeus, not in relation to being in a condition in accordance with nature, nor in relation to impulse and aversion.³¹⁵

Preferred and Dispreferred Things

II.7.7b.1

Further, among indifferent things some have more value and others less. Some have it in themselves, others through what they produce. Some are preferred, others dispreferred, and others neither.³¹⁶ Preferred things are those which, though indifferent, have much value, as value is reckoned among indifferent things. Dispreferred things are those which similarly have much disvalue. Neither preferred nor dispreferred are those which have neither much ⟨value nor⟩ disvalue.³¹⁷

314.“From” preserves the supplied ἀπό. The claim that these terms are relative requires the reader to ask “indifferent in relation to what?” It explains why the same bodily or external thing can be indifferent in one respect and make a difference in another.

315.Εὐσχημόνως ζῆν is living becomingly or properly; the parenthesis identifies this with living happily. Κατὰ φύσιν ἔχειν concerns being in a natural condition here, including bodily conditions. It is not silently substituted for the ethical end, “living in accordance with nature,” defined in II.7.6. The emphatic oath “by Zeus” is retained.

316.The compressed καθ’ αὑτά / ποιητικά distinguishes value in itself from value through production of something else. The English supplies “have it” from the preceding reference to value; it does not call the indifferent things goods. Προηγμένα and ἀποπροηγμένα are the terms rendered “preferred” and “dispreferred.”

317.“As value is reckoned among indifferent things” preserves ὡς ἐν ἀδιαφόροις, the explicit limit on this valuation. In the third class the supplied ἀξίαν μήτε remains bracketed. “Much” qualifies both sides of the comparison; the text need not be read as denying every small degree of value. Compare Diogenes Laertius VII.105–106.

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.