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.7.11a–II.7.11b.1

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11a–II.7.11b.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 298

Κατόρθωμα καὶ ἁμάρτημα

II.7.11a

Κατόρθωμα δ’ εἶναι λέγουσι καθῆκον πάντας ἐπέχον τοὺς ἀριθμούς, ἢ καθάπερ προείπομεν, τέλειον καθῆκον· ἁμάρτημά τε τὸ παρὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον πραττόμενον, ἢ ἐν ᾧ παραλέλειπταί τι καθῆκον ὑπὸ λογικοῦ ζῴου.

Κοινὰ ἀγαθὰ καὶ ὁμόνοια

II.7.11b.1

Τά τε ἀγαθὰ πάντα τῶν σπουδαίων εἶναι ⟨κοινὰ⟩ λέγουσι, καθ’ ὃ καὶ τὸν ὠφελοῦντά τινα τῶν πλησίον καὶ ἑαυτὸν ὠφελεῖν. Τήν τε ὁμόνοιαν ἐπιστήμην εἶναι κοινῶν ἀγαθῶν, δι’ ὃ καὶ τοὺς σπουδαίους πάντας ὁμονοεῖν ἀλλήλοις διὰ τὸ συμφωνεῖν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον· τοὺς δὲ φαύλους διαφωνοῦντας πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐχθροὺς εἶναι καὶ κακοποιητικοὺς ἀλλήλων καὶ πολεμίους.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 299

Correct Action and Error

II.7.11a

They say that a correct action is an appropriate action complete in every detail, or, as we said before, a complete appropriate action.³⁸³ An error is what is done contrary to right reason, or an act in which a rational animal has omitted something appropriate.³⁸⁴

Common Goods and Concord

II.7.11b.1

They say that all the goods of virtuous people are ⟨common⟩, in accordance with which a person who benefits someone close to him also benefits himself.³⁸⁵ Concord is knowledge of common goods. Hence all virtuous people are in concord with one another, because they agree about the affairs of life; base people, disagreeing with one another, are hostile, harmful to one another, and at enmity.³⁸⁶

383.Πάντας ἐπέχον τοὺς ἀριθμούς is literally “having all the numbers,” an expression for completeness in every detail. The cross-reference points back to the complete appropriate actions at II.7.8.2, Wachsmuth p. 85, line 19; the editor’s parenthetical page reference is transferred to this note.

384.The two formulations cover acting contrary to right reason and omitting something appropriate. The qualification “rational animal” is explicit. Ἁμάρτημα retains “error,” used earlier for a wrong action; the passage does not restrict error to a mistake in factual information.

385.Κοινά, “common,” is supplied by Wachsmuth. The following sentence and II.7.11d explain the reciprocity through benefiting and virtue. “Someone close to him” renders τῶν πλησίον; it need not denote a person living in the adjoining house. The claim concerns goods in this ethical account, rather than an explicit scheme for distributing property.

386.Ὁμόνοια is defined here as knowledge of common goods. Compare the earlier definition of συμφωνία as agreement in beliefs about life at II.7.5l.3. The general contrast between virtuous and base people is the source’s own claim, not a description of particular historical communities.

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.