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.7.7e.1–II.7.7e.2

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English Page · Branch 133 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.7e.1–II.7.7e.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 262

Ληπτὰ καθ’ αὑτά

II.7.7e.1

Πάντα δὲ ⟨τὰ⟩ κατὰ φύσιν ληπτὰ εἶναι καὶ πάντα τὰ ⟨παρὰ⟩ φύσιν ἄληπτα. Τῶν δὲ κατὰ φύσιν τὰ μὲν καθ’ αὑτὰ ληπτὰ εἶναι, τὰ δὲ δι’ ἕτερα. Καθ’ αὑτὰ μέν, ὅσα ἐστὶν ὁρμῆς κινητικὰ προτρεπτικῶς ἐφ’ ἑαυτὰ ἢ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀντέχεσθαι αὐτῶν, οἷον ὑγίειαν, εὐαισθησίαν, ἀπονίαν καὶ κάλλος σώματος.

Ληπτὰ δι’ ἕτερα

II.7.7e.2

Ποιητικὰ ⟨δέ⟩, ὅσα ἐστὶν ὁρμῆς κινητικὰ ἀνετικῶς ἐφ’ ἕτερα καὶ μὴ προτρεπτικῶς ⟨ἐφ’ ἑαυτά⟩, οἷον πλοῦτον, δόξαν καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια. Παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τῶν παρὰ φύσιν τὰ μὲν εἶναι καθ’ αὑτὰ ἄληπτα, τὰ δὲ τῷ ποιητικὰ εἶναι τῶν καθ’ αὑτὰ ἀλήπτων.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 263

Things To Be Taken in Themselves

II.7.7e.1

All things in accordance with nature are to be taken, and all things ⟨contrary to⟩ nature are not to be taken. Of things in accordance with nature, some are to be taken in themselves, others for the sake of other things.³²⁷ Those to be taken in themselves stimulate impulse by urging us toward themselves or toward holding on to them, such as health, keenness of perception, freedom from pain, and bodily beauty.³²⁸

Things To Be Taken for the Sake of Others

II.7.7e.2

Productive things, in contrast, stimulate impulse by allowing movement toward other things, rather than by urging it ⟨toward themselves⟩, such as wealth, reputation, and the like.³²⁹ Similarly, of things contrary to nature, some are not to be taken in themselves, and others because they produce things that are not to be taken in themselves.³³⁰

327.Ληπτά and ἄληπτα are “to be taken” and “not to be taken,” distinct from the choiceworthiness of goods at II.7.5o. The supplied article τὰ is expressed by “things”; the consequential supplied παρά, “contrary to,” remains bracketed. Without that supplement, the opening contrast would be lost.

328.Προτρεπτικῶς describes impulse urged directly toward the things themselves or their retention. Ἀπονία is freedom from pain, distinct from freedom from distress, ἀλυπία. These are still natural indifferents; “in themselves” does not reclassify them as the final good.

329.Ἀνετικῶς marks the permissive or enabling relation to other things, contrasted with the directly urging προτρεπτικῶς. The supplied δέ is expressed by “in contrast”; the supplied ἐφ’ ἑαυτά remains bracketed. Δόξα means reputation here, alongside wealth, rather than a belief or opinion.

330.The final distinction parallels things taken in themselves and things taken for what they produce. Wachsmuth does not print an explanatory expansion found in scholia on Lucian after the wealth/reputation examples; it has not been added to the translation.

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.