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.7.14.5–II.7.14.6

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Facing Pages · Branch 211 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.14.5–II.7.14.6

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Ancient Greek

p. 418

Μονὴ ἐν τῷ ζῆν καὶ ἄφοδος

II.7.14.5

Τούτοις δ’ ἀκολούθως καὶ τὰς μονὰς τὰς ἐν τῷ ζῆν παραμετρεῖσθαι ταῖς κοινωνικαῖς καὶ πολιτικαῖς καὶ θεωρητικαῖς πράξεσι καὶ τὰς ἀφόδους ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων· ὥστε κακῶς τοῖς σοφοῖς εὔλογον ἐξαγωγὴν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν θεωρεῖσθαι καὶ τοῖς φαύλοις εὔλογον ἐν τῷ ζῆν μονήν· τοῖς γὰρ ἐκτελεῖν δυναμένοις τὰς κοινωνικὰς καὶ πολιτικὰς πράξεις καὶ θεωρητικὰς καὶ τῶν σπουδαίων καὶ τῶν φαύλων εὔλογον ἐν τῷ ζῆν εἶναι μονήν, τοῖς δὲ μὴ δυναμένοις εὔλογον ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν ἀπαλλαγήν.

Τὸ τέλος καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἀγαθά

II.7.14.6

Ἐπεὶ δὴ μεγάλη τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐστιν ὑπεροχὴ κατά τε τὸ ποιητικὸν καὶ κατὰ τὸ δι’ αὑθ’ αἱρετὸν παρὰ τὰ σωματικὰ καὶ τὰ ἔξωθεν ἀγαθά, κατὰ τὸν λόγον οὐκ εἶναι συμπλήρωμα τὸ τέλος ἐκ τῶν σωματικῶν καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἀγαθῶν οὐδὲ τὸ τυγχάνειν ἁπάντων, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὸ κατ’ ἀρετὴν ζῆν ἐν τοῖς περὶ σῶμα καὶ τοῖς ἔξωθεν ἀγαθοῖς ἢ πᾶσιν ἢ τοῖς πλείστοις καὶ κυριωτάτοις.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 419

Remaining in Life and Departing from It

II.7.14.5

In accordance with this, remaining in life too is measured by social, political, and contemplative actions, and departures by the opposites. Thus it is wrong to regard departure from life as reasonable for the wise and remaining in life as reasonable for the base.⁵⁵⁵ For, among both the virtuous and the base, remaining in life is reasonable for those able to carry out social, political, and contemplative actions; for those unable to do so, release from life is reasonable.⁵⁵⁶

The End and the Other Goods

II.7.14.6

Since virtue greatly surpasses bodily and external goods both in productive power and in being choiceworthy for its own sake, according to this account the end is not an aggregate of bodily and external goods, nor the attainment of them all. It is rather living according to virtue amid bodily and external goods, either all of them or most and the most important.⁵⁵⁷

555.Κακῶς, “wrongly,” is Wachsmuth’s correction of the transmitted καί, “and.” It makes the sentence reject the contrast that follows, rather than endorse it. His apparatus identifies the contrast as Stoic doctrine and refers back to printed p. 110, lines 9–15. The English follows the text he prints.

556.The Peripatetic account measures remaining or departing by the capacity for the listed activities, applying that measure to both moral classes. Μονή is remaining or staying; ἄφοδος, ἐξαγωγή, and ἀπαλλαγή give different expressions for departure or release from life. This paragraph reports the ancient school’s ethical criterion and its disagreement with the preceding Stoic account.

557.Τέλος is the end or ultimate aim. Συμπλήρωμα describes a composite or aggregate; the next paragraph explains why goods that contribute to happiness do not themselves constitute its activity. The alternatives “all” and “most and the most important” remain explicit. The printed κατὰ τὸν λόγον is retained as “according to this account”; Wachsmuth records uncertainty about the article and a proposed τὸν αὐτόν, “the same,” which is not inserted.

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.