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.7.11c–II.7.11d.1

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 153 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11c–II.7.11d.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 302

Τρεῖς σημασίαι τῆς φιλίας

II.7.11c

Τριχῶς δὲ λεγομένης τῆς φιλίας, καθ’ ἕνα μὲν τρόπον τῆς κοινῆς ἕνεκ’ ὠφελείας, καθ’ ἣν φίλοι εἶναι λέγονται, ταύτην μὲν οὔ φασι τῶν ἀγαθῶν εἶναι, διὰ τὸ μηδὲν ἐκ διεστηκότων ἀγαθὸν εἶναι κατ’ αὐτούς· τὴν δὲ κατὰ τὸ δεύτερον σημαινόμενον λεγομένην φιλίαν, κατάσχεσιν οὖσαν φιλικὴν πρὸς τῶν πέλας, τῶν ἐκτὸς λέγουσιν ἀγαθῶν· τὴν δὲ περὶ αὑτὸν φιλίαν, καθ’ ἣν φίλος ἐστὶ τῶν πέλας, τῶν περὶ ψυχὴν ἀποφαίνουσιν ἀγαθῶν.

Κοινὰ ἀγαθὰ καὶ ἴση ὠφέλεια

II.7.11d.1

Εἶναι δὲ καὶ θάτερον τρόπον κοινὰ τὰ ἀγαθά. Πάντα γὰρ τὸν ὁντινοῦν ὠφελοῦντα ἴσην ὠφέλειαν ἀπολαμβάνειν νομίζουσι παρ’ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, μηδένα δὲ φαῦλον μήτε ὠφελεῖσθαι μήτε ὠφελεῖν. Εἶναι γὰρ τὸ ὠφελεῖν ἴσχειν κατ’ ἀρετὴν καὶ τὸ ὠφελεῖσθαι κινεῖσθαι κατ’ ἀρετήν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 303

Three Senses of Friendship

II.7.11c

Friendship is spoken of in three senses. In one sense it is friendship for common benefit, in accordance with which people are said to be friends. They say that this is not among goods, because according to them nothing composed of separate parts is a good.³⁹¹ Friendship in the second sense, a friendly disposition on the part of those close to one, is counted among external goods. Friendship concerning oneself, in accordance with which one is a friend to those close to one, they declare to be among goods concerning the soul.³⁹²

Common Goods and Equal Benefit

II.7.11d.1

Goods are common in another sense too. For they hold that anyone who benefits anyone at all receives an equal benefit by that very fact, while no base person either receives or confers benefit.³⁹³ For to benefit is to hold in accordance with virtue, and to be benefited is to be moved in accordance with virtue.³⁹⁴

391.The first sense concerns the relationship for common benefit. The reason given invokes what is composed of separate parts, ἐκ διεστηκότων, rather than denying every ethical value to friends. The next two senses classify the friendly attitudes belonging to the respective persons.

392.Πρὸς τῶν πέλας uses the genitive to locate the friendly disposition on the side of the other people; περὶ αὑτόν locates the third sense in oneself. The distinction explains why one is an external good and the other a good concerning the soul. Compare the earlier classification of relational goods and the definition of friendship at II.7.5l.

393.This resumes the supplied “common” at II.7.11b.1. The equal return follows “by that very fact,” not from a further bargain or repayment. The exclusion of base people depends on the technical account of benefit through virtue; it does not say that a base person cannot receive money or practical assistance.

394.Wachsmuth prints ἴσχειν, “to hold,” in the active definition and κινεῖσθαι, “to be moved,” in the passive one. His apparatus considers adding “to move or” before ἴσχειν by comparison with Diogenes Laertius VII.104. The English follows the printed text, preserving its compressed formulation rather than silently supplying the proposed words.

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.