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.7.8a.1–II.7.8a.2

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.8a.1–II.7.8a.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 272

Κατορθώματα καὶ κατηγορούμενα ὠφελήματα

II.7.8a.1

Τῶν δὲ κατορθωμάτων τὰ μὲν εἶναι ὧν χρή, τὰ δ’ οὔ. Ὧν χρὴ μὲν εἶναι κατηγορούμενα ὠφελήματα, οἷον τὸ φρονεῖν, τὸ σωφρονεῖν· οὐκ εἶναι δὲ ὧν χρὴ τὰ μὴ οὕτως ἔχοντα. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον τὴν αὐτὴν γίνεσθαι τεχνολογίαν.

Ἁμάρτημα καὶ τελείωσις τοῦ καθήκοντος

II.7.8a.2

Πᾶν δὲ τὸ παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον ἐν λογικῷ ⟨ζῴῳ⟩ γινόμενον ἁμάρτημα εἶναι· τὸ δὲ καθῆκον τελειωθὲν κατόρθωμα γίνεσθαι. Παραμετρεῖσθαι δὲ τὸ μέσον καθῆκον ἀδιαφόροις τισί, ἐκλεγομένοις δὲ παρὰ φύσιν καὶ κατὰ φύσιν, τοιαύτην δ’ εὐθηνίαν προσφερομένοις, ὥστ’ εἰ μὴ λαμβάνοιμεν αὐτὰ ἢ διωθοίμεθα ἀπεριστάτως, μὴ ἂν εὐδαιμονεῖν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 273

Correct Actions and Benefits Expressed as Predicates

II.7.8a.1

Of correct actions, some belong among things one ought to do, and others do not. What one ought to do consists of benefits expressed as predicates, such as thinking wisely and exercising temperance. Things not of this kind do not belong among what one ought to do.³⁴³ The same technical classification applies similarly to things contrary to appropriate action.³⁴⁴

Error and the Completion of Appropriate Action

II.7.8a.2

Everything contrary to appropriate action that occurs in a rational ⟨animal⟩ is an error; appropriate action, when brought to completion, becomes a correct action.³⁴⁵ Intermediate appropriate action is measured against certain indifferent things, selected from among things contrary to and in accordance with nature, which afford such prosperity that, if we did not take or reject them when no special circumstances intervene, we could not be happy.³⁴⁶

343.The compressed ὧν χρή distinction is preserved rather than omitted because it seems unexpected after “correct actions.” Wachsmuth explains κατηγορούμενα as “being predicates.” The examples are infinitival activities, and the source calls them benefits, ὠφελήματα. Compare the good/benefit and choiceworthy/to-be-chosen distinctions at II.7.6f.

344.Τεχνολογία here is a systematic or technical classification, not modern technology. The source refers to an analogous classification of actions contrary to what is appropriate without spelling out the corresponding examples.

345.The supplied ζῴῳ, “animal,” remains bracketed. Ἁμάρτημα is an error or wrong action, not a physical impairment. “Brought to completion” preserves τελειωθέν and connects the correct action with the complete appropriate actions just defined.

346.This difficult sentence retains Wachsmuth’s printed conjecture εὐθηνίαν, “prosperity” or abundance. His apparatus records several alternative reconstructions. It uses “selected” of the two natural classes and then specifies taking or rejecting them. Ἀπεριστάτως is understood as the absence of special circumstances, not an obligation to pursue externals at any cost; compare Diogenes Laertius VII.109 on actions with and without special circumstances. The conditional claim concerns taking and rejecting, not a promise of happiness from possessing wealth or health.

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.