Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

Explore the Lexicon

Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 7 · II.7.13.21–II.7.13.22

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Ancient Greek Page · Branch 206 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.13.21–II.7.13.22

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 408

Τὰ σώματος καὶ τὰ ψυχῆς ἀγαθά

II.7.13.21

Τὸν δ’ αὐτὸν λόγον καὶ ἐπὶ ὑγιείας εἶναι καὶ νόσου καὶ ἰσχύος καὶ ἀσθενείας καὶ ποδωκείας καὶ βραδυτῆτος καὶ αἰσθήσεως καὶ πηρώσεως. Ὥστ’ εἰ καὶ τὰ σωματικὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν δέδεικται δι’ αὑθ’ αἱρετὰ καὶ τἀναντία τούτων κακὰ δι’ αὑτὰ φευκτά, καὶ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀναγκαῖον μέρη δι’ αὑθ’ αἱρετὰ ὑπάρχειν καὶ τὰς ἀρετὰς αὐτῶν καὶ ⟨τὰς⟩ τῆς ὅλης ψυχῆς.

Ἀρετὴ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐπιστρέφουσα

II.7.13.22

Τὴν γὰρ εἴσοδον ἡ ἀρετὴ λαβοῦσα, καθάπερ ὑπεδείξαμεν, ἀπὸ τῶν σωματικῶν καὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἀγαθῶν καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐπιστρέψασα καὶ θεασαμένη, διότι καὶ αὐτὴ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν πολὺ μᾶλλον τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἀρετῶν, ᾠκειώθη πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ὡς πρὸς δι’ αὑτὴν αἱρετὴν καὶ μᾶλλον γε πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἢ πρὸς τὰς τοῦ σώματος ἀρετάς· ὥστε παρὰ πολὺ τιμιωτέρας εἶναι ⟨τὰς⟩ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετάς.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 409

Goods of Body and Soul

II.7.13.21

The same account applies to health and disease, strength and weakness, speed of foot and slowness, sensation and impairment. Hence, if bodily goods too have been shown choiceworthy for their own sakes, and their contrary evils to be avoided for their own sakes, the parts of the soul must also be choiceworthy for their own sakes, along with their virtues and ⟨those⟩ of the soul as a whole.⁵⁴³

Virtue Turning toward Itself

II.7.13.22

For virtue, having taken its point of entry from bodily and external goods, as we indicated, turned toward itself. Seeing that it too accords with nature, far more than the excellences of the body, it came to feel an affinity with itself as choiceworthy for its own sake, and indeed a greater affinity with itself than with bodily excellences. Hence ⟨the⟩ virtues of the soul are far more worthy of honor.⁵⁴⁴

543.The opposed pairs carry the preceding argument into other bodily qualities. The source’s αἴσθησις and πήρωσις pair sensation with impairment; it does not specify a particular sense or injury. The inference then extends to the parts of the soul, their virtues, and the virtues of the whole soul. “Those” expresses the supplied article τὰς with its repeated noun understood. Wachsmuth records proposals to insert an additional pair for bodily good and bad condition; no such pair is added to the printed text.

544.Virtue is personified as entering through concern for bodily and external goods, then recognizing its own naturalness and worth. The earlier indication points to the account beginning on printed p. 118, represented here by II.7.13.5–9; the editor’s page reference is transferred to this note. The English takes the compressed τῶν κατὰ φύσιν as classing virtue among things in accordance with nature, to a greater degree than bodily excellences. The comparative valuation remains explicit. Wachsmuth supplies the final article τὰς, expressed by the bracketed “the.”

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.