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.7.9.1–II.7.9.2

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 139 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.9.1–II.7.9.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 274

Φαντασία καὶ ὁρμή

II.7.9.1

Τὸ δὲ κινοῦν τὴν ὁρμὴν οὐδὲν ἕτερον εἶναι λέγουσιν ἀλλ’ ἢ φαντασίαν ὁρμητικὴν τοῦ καθήκοντος αὐτόθεν, τὴν δὲ ὁρμὴν εἶναι φορὰν ψυχῆς ἐπί τι κατὰ τὸ γένος. Ταύτης δ’ ἐν εἴδει θεωρεῖσθαι τήν τε ἐν τοῖς λογικοῖς γινομένην ὁρμὴν καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀλόγοις ζῴοις· οὐ κατωνομασμέναι δ’ εἰσίν. Ἡ γὰρ ὄρεξις οὐκ ἔστι λογικὴ ὁρμή, ἀλλὰ λογικῆς ὁρμῆς εἶδος.

Λογικὴ ὁρμὴ καὶ ἀφορμή

II.7.9.2

Τὴν δὲ λογικὴν ὁρμὴν δεόντως ἄν τις ἀφορίσαιτο, λέγων εἶναι φορὰν διανοίας ἐπί τι τῶν ἐν τῷ πράττειν· ταύτῃ δ’ ἀντιτίθεσθαι ἀφορμήν, φοράν τινα ⟨διανοίας ἀπό τινος τῶν ἐν τῷ μὴ πράττειν⟩.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 275

Impression and Impulse

II.7.9.1

They say that what sets impulse in motion is nothing other than an impression of what is appropriate that directly prompts impulse; impulse, considered generically, is a movement of the soul toward something.³⁴⁷ Under this genus are considered, as species, both the impulse occurring in rational animals and that in nonrational animals; these do not have names of their own. For desire is not rational impulse itself, but a species of rational impulse.³⁴⁸

Rational Impulse and Aversion

II.7.9.2

One could properly define rational impulse as a movement of thought toward something in the sphere of action. Opposed to it is aversion, a movement ⟨of thought away from something in the sphere of not acting⟩.³⁴⁹

347.Φαντασία is an impression, and ὁρμητική describes its capacity to move impulse. The adverb αὐτόθεν is rendered “directly,” describing how the impression prompts impulse. The general definition concerns movement toward something; the next paragraph distinguishes rational impulse and its opposite.

348.The statement about unnamed species refers to the rational and nonrational divisions under generic impulse. Ὄρεξις, “desire,” is expressly a species of rational impulse rather than an interchangeable name for the whole. This broad term should also be distinguished from ἐπιθυμία, the passion discussed in the following section.

349.The substantial supplement after φοράν τινα remains bracketed. It supplies both “of thought” and the contrasting movement away, with the reference to not acting. The English preserves the printed formulation’s asymmetry rather than replacing it with a simpler symmetrical definition of attraction and repulsion.

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.