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.7.11s.3–II.7.11s.5

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11s.3–II.7.11s.5

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Ancient Greek

p. 378

Κυνισμός

II.7.11s.3

Κυνιεῖν τε τὸν σοφὸν λέγουσιν, ἴσον ⟨ὂν⟩ τῷ ἐπιμένειν τῷ κυνισμῷ, οὐ μὴν σοφὸν ὄντα ἐνάρξεσθαι τοῦ κυνισμοῦ.

Ἔρως καὶ φιλοποιία

II.7.11s.4

Τὸν δὲ ἔρωτά φασιν ἐπιβολὴν εἶναι φιλοποιίας διὰ κάλλος ἐμφαινόμενον νέων ὡραίων· δι’ ὃ καὶ ἐρωτικὸν εἶναι τὸν σοφὸν καὶ ἐρασθήσεσθαι τῶν ἀξιεράστων, εὐγενῶν ὄντων καὶ εὐφυῶν.

Ἡ μεθ’ ὑπεξαιρέσεως ὁρμή

II.7.11s.5

Λέγουσι δὲ μήτε παρὰ τὴν ὄρεξιν μήτε παρὰ τὴν ὁρμὴν μήτε παρὰ τὴν ἐπιβολὴν γίνεσθαί τι περὶ τὸν σπουδαῖον, διὰ τὸ μεθ’ ὑπεξαιρέσεως πάντα ποιεῖν τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ μηδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐναντιουμένων ἀπρόληπτον προσπίπτειν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 379

Cynicism

II.7.11s.3

They say that the wise person will live as a Cynic, ⟨this being⟩ equivalent to persisting in Cynicism; yet, once wise, he will not begin the Cynic life.⁵⁰⁶

Love and the Formation of Friendship

II.7.11s.4

They say that love is an initiative toward forming friendship because of the beauty manifest in young men in their bloom. Hence the wise person is also inclined to love and will fall in love with those worthy of love, who are well born and well endowed by nature.⁵⁰⁷

Impulse with Reservation

II.7.11s.5

They say that nothing happens to the virtuous person contrary to his desire, impulse, or initiative, because he does all such things with reservation, and none of the things that oppose him comes upon him unforeseen.⁵⁰⁸

506.The distinction is between continuing in Cynicism and beginning it when already wise. “Once wise” expresses σοφὸν ὄντα, being wise, rather than a change added to the doctrine. Cynicism names the philosophical way of life. Wachsmuth supplies ὄν after ἴσον; its English equivalent remains bracketed. Compare Diogenes Laertius VII.121 for the related report that the wise person will practice Cynicism; the present restriction on beginning it is retained.

507.The definition recalls II.7.5b9.2–3 and II.7.10c.2; ἐπιβολή retains “initiative,” as in the account of impulse. Νέων ὡραίων places the love in the ancient setting of young men in their bloom, without specifying an exact age. The final εὐγενῶν and εὐφυῶν repeat the terms discussed at II.7.11m.1–2, where the reported definitions admit acquired as well as inherited or natural qualifications.

508.Ὑπεξαίρεσις is reservation or an exception kept in view when acting. The explanation therefore qualifies the desire, impulse, and initiative themselves; it does not say that no external obstruction occurs. The final clause calls what opposes him ἀπρόληπτον when it is unforeseen or not anticipated. The English retains that qualification rather than changing it to a denial that anything can oppose him.

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.