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.7.7b.4–II.7.7b.5

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.7b.4–II.7.7b.5

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Ancient Greek

p. 258

Οὔτε προηγμένα οὔτε ἀποπροηγμένα

II.7.7b.4

Οὔτε δὲ προηγμένα οὔτ’ ἀποπροηγμένα περὶ ψυχὴν ⟨μὲν⟩ φαντασίαν καὶ συγκατάθεσιν καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα· περὶ δὲ σῶμα λευκότητα καὶ μελανότητα καὶ χαροπότητα καὶ ἡδονὴν πᾶσαν καὶ πόνον καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτο. Τῶν δ’ ἐκτὸς οὔτε προηγμένα ⟨οὔτε ἀποπροηγμένα⟩ εἶναι τὰ τοιαῦτα, ὅσα εὐτελῆ ὄντα καὶ μηδὲν χρήσιμον προσφερόμενα μικρὰν παντελῶς ἔχει τὴν ἀφ’ αὑτῶν χρείαν.

Ἡ ἀξία τῶν περὶ ψυχήν

II.7.7b.5

Τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς οὔσης κυριωτέρας τοῦ σώματος καὶ πρὸς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ζῆν φασὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν κατὰ φύσιν ὄντα καὶ προηγμένα πλείονα τὴν ἀξίαν ἔχειν τῶν περὶ σῶμα καὶ τῶν ἐκτός, οἷον εὐφυΐαν ψυχῆς πρὸς ἀρετὴν ὑπεράγειν τῆς τοῦ σώματος εὐφυΐας καὶ ὁμοίως ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἔχειν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 259

Neither Preferred nor Dispreferred

II.7.7b.4

Neither preferred nor dispreferred among things concerning the soul are impression, assent, and the like. Among bodily things are whiteness, blackness, brightness of the eyes, all pleasure and pain, and anything else of this kind.³²¹ Among external things, neither preferred ⟨nor dispreferred⟩ are such things as, being of little worth and offering nothing useful, provide altogether little service in themselves.³²²

The Value of Things Concerning the Soul

II.7.7b.5

Since the soul has greater authority than the body also in relation to living in accordance with nature, they say that preferred things concerning the soul and in accordance with nature have more value than bodily and external things. For example, the soul’s natural aptitude for virtue surpasses the body’s natural aptitude, and the same holds in the other cases.³²³

321.The source lists impression and assent without further qualification, and prints “all pleasure,” ἡδονὴν πᾶσαν. Those expressions are retained rather than narrowed to selected kinds. Χαροπότης denotes brightness or a light coloring of the eyes; “brightness of the eyes” keeps the bodily example distinct from joy or gladness. See Liddell and Scott, An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, s.v. χαροπότης.

322.The supplied μέν structures the contrast between soul and body and is expressed by the parallel English sentences. The more substantial supplement “nor dispreferred” remains bracketed. The final description distinguishes trivial external things from the family relations and possessions just listed as preferred.

323.The comparison ranks preferred indifferents; it does not turn aptitude for virtue into virtue itself. Wachsmuth prints “value,” ἀξίαν, where his apparatus records εὐεξίαν, “good condition.” The translation follows the printed comparison of value.

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.