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.7.11m.7–II.7.11m.9

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Facing Pages · Branch 180 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11m.7–II.7.11m.9

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Ancient Greek

p. 356

Ἰατρὸς ἑαυτοῦ

II.7.11m.7

Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ ἄριστον αὐτοῦ ἰατρὸν εἶναι τὸν σπουδαῖον ἄνδρα· ἐπιμελῆ γὰρ ὄντα τῆς ἰδίας φύσεως παρατηρητὴν ὑπάρχειν καὶ τῶν πρὸς ὑγίειαν ἐπιστήμονα συμφερόντων.

Μέθη καὶ ἁμαρτία

II.7.11m.8

Οὐχ οἷον δὲ μεθυσθήσεσθαι τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντα· τὴν γὰρ μέθην ἁμαρτητικὸν περιέχειν, λήρησιν εἶναι ⟨γὰρ⟩ παρὰ τὸν οἶνον, ἐν μηδενὶ δὲ τὸν σπουδαῖον ἁμαρτάνειν, δι’ ὃ πάντα κατ’ ἀρετὴν ποιεῖν καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ ταύτης ὀρθὸν λόγον.

Τρεῖς προηγούμενοι βίοι

II.7.11m.9

Τρεῖς δὲ προηγουμένους εἶναι βίους, τόν τε βασιλικὸν καὶ τὸν πολιτικὸν καὶ τρίτον τὸν ἐπιστημονικόν·

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 357

His Own Physician

II.7.11m.7

They also say that the virtuous man is his own best physician. For, being attentive to his own constitution, he observes it and knows what is beneficial for health.⁴⁷³

Intoxication and Error

II.7.11m.8

It is not possible for the person of understanding to become drunk. For intoxication involves error, being rambling under the influence of wine; the virtuous person errs in nothing, and hence does everything according to virtue and the right reason that proceeds from it.⁴⁷⁴

Three Preferred Ways of Life

II.7.11m.9

There are three preferred ways of life: the kingly, the political, and, third, the life of knowledge.⁴⁷⁵

473.Ἰδία φύσις is the person’s own nature or bodily constitution in this context. The explanation rests on attentive observation and knowledge of what benefits health. The source is describing the ideal wise person’s care of himself; it does not here enumerate treatments or offer a general account of medical practice.

474.Λήρησις is rambling or delirious talk, and παρὰ τὸν οἶνον makes wine its cause. The inference rests on the definition of intoxication as involving error. Wachsmuth supplies γάρ, “for,” within the explanation. The Greek preserves the supplied particle; its explanatory connection is expressed through “being” in the English sentence.

475.Προηγούμενος here is preferred or adopted in the first instance, rather than chronologically preceding. Ἐπιστημονικός is concerned with knowledge; “the life of knowledge” keeps its connection with ἐπιστήμη without limiting it to the modern natural sciences. The source continues directly into the corresponding means of acquiring money.

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.