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.7.14.2–II.7.14.3

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.14.2–II.7.14.3

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Ancient Greek

p. 414

Ἀγαθὰ σώματος ψυχῆς καὶ τὰ ἐκτός

II.7.14.2

Ὅπερ μὲν ἐν ⟨τῷ⟩ σώματί φαμεν ὑγίειαν, τοῦτ’ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ καλεῖσθαι σωφροσύνην, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐκτὸς πλοῦτον· περιστέλλειν γὰρ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ τοῦτον.

Ὅπερ δ’ ἐν τῷ σώματι ἰσχύν, τοῦτ’ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ [τὴν] ἀνδρείαν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐκτὸς [τὴν] ἀρχήν· ὅπερ δ’ ἐν τῷ σώματι εὐαισθησίαν, τοῦτ’ ἐν ⟨τῇ⟩ ψυχῇ φρόνησιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐκτὸς εὐτυχίαν· ὅ τι δ’ ἐν ⟨τῷ⟩ σώματι κάλλος, τοῦτ’ ἐν ⟨τῇ⟩ ψυχῇ δικαιοσύνην, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἐκτὸς [τὴν] φιλίαν·

Ἡ ὑπεροχὴ τῶν περὶ ψυχὴν ἀγαθῶν

II.7.14.3

ὥστε τρία γένη τῶν ἀγαθῶν δι’ αὑθ’ αἱρετὰ ὑπάρχειν, τά τε περὶ ⟨τὴν⟩ ψυχὴν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὰ ἐκτός· καὶ μακρῷ αἱρετώτερα τὰ περὶ ψυχὴν τῶν ἄλλων, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἡγεμονικώτερον καὶ αἱρετώτερον ψυχὴ σώματος.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 415

Goods of Body Soul and External Life

II.7.14.2

What we call health in the body is called self-control in the soul, and wealth among external goods; for wealth too checks most errors.⁵⁵⁰

What we call strength in the body is courage in the soul, and rule among external goods; what we call keenness of the senses in the body is practical wisdom in the soul, and good fortune among external goods; what we call beauty in the body is justice in the soul, and friendship among external goods.⁵⁵¹

The Higher Worth of Goods of the Soul

II.7.14.3

Hence there are three kinds of goods choiceworthy for their own sakes: those concerning the soul, those concerning the body, and external goods. Goods of the soul are far more choiceworthy than the others, since soul is both more governing and more choiceworthy than body.⁵⁵²

550.The correspondence is analogical, rather than an assertion that the three goods are identical. Τοῦτον refers to wealth: the text claims that wealth too restrains most errors. It does not say that wealth prevents every error or necessarily makes its possessor virtuous. The comparison with self-control recalls II.7.13.23.

551.Ἀρχή is rule or authority, and εὐτυχία good fortune. Εὐαισθησία retains “keenness of the senses,” distinguished from practical wisdom, φρόνησις. All four triples are preserved. Supplied articles before body or soul are expressed through ordinary English grammar; the three rejected instances of τὴν remain bracketed in Greek and have no separate English equivalent.

552.The claim of intrinsic worth applies to all three kinds; the higher ranking of psychic goods does not withdraw it from bodily or external goods. “More governing” preserves the comparative ἡγεμονικώτερον. The supplied article τὴν before soul is represented by the English article. The source’s sentence continues the preceding analogies.

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.