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.11–II.7.11m.12

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Facing Pages · Branch 182 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11m.11–II.7.11m.12

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Ancient Greek

p. 360

Μισθὸς καὶ σοφιστεία

II.7.11m.11

Περὶ δὲ τοῦ σοφιστεύσειν καὶ ἀπὸ σοφιστείας εὐπορήσειν χρημάτων διέστησαν οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς αἱρέσεως κατὰ τὸ σημαινόμενον. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ χρηματιεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὴν παιδείαν καὶ μισθούς ποτε λήψεσθαι παρὰ τῶν φιλομαθούντων διωμολογήσαντο· περὶ δὲ τὸ σημαινόμενον ἐγένετό τις ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀμφισβήτησις, τῶν μὲν αὐτὸ τοῦτο λεγόντων σοφιστεύειν, τὸ ἐπὶ μισθῷ μεταδιδόναι τῶν τῆς φιλοσοφίας δογμάτων, τῶν δ’ ὑποτοπησάντων ἐν τῷ σοφιστεύειν περιέχεσθαί τι φαῦλον, οἱονεὶ λόγους καπηλεύειν, οὐ φαμένων δεῖν ἀπὸ παιδείας παρὰ τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων χρηματίζεσθαι, καταδέεστερον γὰρ εἶναι τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον τοῦ χρηματισμοῦ τοῦ τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἀξιώματος.

Ζωὴ καὶ θάνατος κατὰ τὸ καθῆκον

II.7.11m.12

Φασὶ δέ ποτε καὶ τὴν ἐξαγωγὴν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ βίου τοῖς σπουδαίοις καθηκόντως ⟨γίγνεσθαι⟩ κατὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους, τοῖς ⟨δὲ⟩ φαύλοις μονὴν ⟨τὴν⟩ ἐν τῷ ζῆν καὶ οἳ μὴ μέλλοιεν ἔσεσθαι σοφοί· οὔτε γὰρ τὴν ἀρετὴν κατέχειν ἐν τῷ ζῆν οὔτε τὴν κακίαν ἐκβάλλειν· τοῖς δὲ καθήκουσι καὶ τοῖς παρὰ τὸ καθῆκον ⟨παρα⟩μετρεῖσθαι τὴν τε ζωὴν καὶ τὸν θάνατον.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 361

Payment and the Meaning of Sophistry

II.7.11m.11

As to whether he will act as a sophist and obtain money from sophistry, members of the school differed over the meaning of the term. For they agreed that he will acquire money from educational activities and sometimes receive payment from those who love learning.⁴⁷⁸ But a dispute arose among them about the meaning: some called precisely this “acting as a sophist”—imparting the doctrines of philosophy for payment. Others suspected that acting as a sophist involved something base, as though one were peddling arguments. They said that one should not earn money by education from whoever happened to come along, for this way of acquiring money fell below the dignity of philosophy.⁴⁷⁹

Life and Death Judged by Appropriate Action

II.7.11m.12

They say that departure from life too sometimes ⟨occurs⟩ appropriately for the virtuous in many ways; ⟨but⟩ for the base, remaining in life may be appropriate, even for those who are not going to become wise. For virtue does not keep one in life, nor does vice drive one out of it. Both life and death are measured by appropriate actions and by what is contrary to appropriate action.⁴⁸⁰

478.The source explicitly distinguishes agreement about receiving payment from disagreement over the meaning of σοφιστεύειν and σοφιστεία. “Sophistry” retains the disputed term; the first group defines it through paid instruction without necessarily assigning it a base character.

479.Καπηλεύειν is peddling or retailing, used here of λόγοι, arguments or discourses. The second group objects to taking money from indiscriminate customers, expressed by τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων, rather than simply reversing the stated agreement about all educational payment. Ἀξίωμα is philosophy’s dignity or standing in this sentence.

480.Ἐξαγωγὴ ἐκ τοῦ βίου is departure from life, the Stoic ethical topic of a deliberate exit. Ποτέ, “sometimes,” is essential. The compressed following clause takes appropriate occurrence from the first clause and applies it to remaining alive, even without future wisdom. In the next sentence virtue and vice are understood as the subjects of “keep” and “drive out,” with the person as the implied object. Mere possession of virtue or vice therefore does not settle the judgment. The supplied γίγνεσθαι and δέ remain bracketed in English; the supplied article τήν and prefix παρα- are expressed through ordinary grammar and “measured.”

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.