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.7.14.10–II.7.14.11

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Facing Pages · Branch 214 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.14.10–II.7.14.11

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Ancient Greek

p. 424

Χρῆσις καὶ ὁδηγία τῆς ἀρετῆς

II.7.14.10

Περὶ δὲ τὴν χρῆσιν, ἐπεὶ πᾶσα χρῆσις ἢ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔχει τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἢ πρὸς ἕτερον, ἐν μὲν ⟨τῇ⟩ πρὸς ἑαυτήν, ὅταν μὴ προσφέρωνται τοῖς πράγμασι συμμέτρως· ἐν δὲ τῇ πρὸς ἕτερον, ὅταν τὸ κατ’ ἀξίαν μὴ φυλάττωσι τοῦ πρέποντος. Εἰ δὲ περὶ ταῦτα ἁμαρτάνουσιν οἱ φαῦλοι, περὶ τὰ ἐναντία πάντως κατορθοῦσιν οἱ σπουδαῖοι, καθηγεμόνα τῶν πράξεων ἔχοντες τὴν ἀρετήν.

Κρίσις προαίρεσις καὶ πρᾶξις

II.7.14.11

Πάσαις γοῦν ὡς ἔοικε ταῖς ἀρεταῖς κοινὸν ὑπάρχειν τό τε κρίνειν καὶ τὸ προαιρεῖσθαι καὶ ⟨τὸ⟩ πράττειν. Οὔτε γὰρ ἄκριτον οὔτ’ ἀπροαίρετον οὔτ’ ἄπρακτον εἶναι τὴν ἀρετήν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν φρόνησιν ἐξάρχειν ὥσπερ ἡγεμονικὴν οὖσαν καὶ τῶν ὑφ’ ἑαυτὴν καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ τὰς ἄλλας αἱρετῶν καὶ φευκτῶν καὶ πρακτῶν καὶ οὐ πρακτῶν καὶ τῶν μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον· τῶν δ’ ἄλλων ἑκάστην ἀποτέμνεσθαι μόνα τὰ καθ’ ἑαυτήν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 425

Use and the Guidance of Virtue

II.7.14.10

As for use, every use has reference either to itself or to another. In its relation to itself, they err when they do not deal with things proportionately; in its relation to another, when they do not preserve the due worth of what is fitting.⁵⁶³ If the base err in these matters, the virtuous invariably act rightly in the opposite ways, having virtue as the guide of their actions.⁵⁶⁴

Judgment Choice and Action

II.7.14.11

At any rate, judging, choosing deliberately, and acting seem to be common to all the virtues. For virtue is neither without judgment, nor without deliberate choice, nor without action. Practical wisdom takes the lead, as though governing both the matters under itself and those under the other virtues: what is to be chosen or avoided, done or not done, and what is more or less so. Each of the other virtues marks off only the matters in its own sphere.⁵⁶⁵

563.The Greek construction is compressed. Wachsmuth prints feminine αὐτήν and ἑαυτήν, following Heeren’s corrections of masculine manuscript forms; the English accordingly retains the reference of use to itself, rather than silently substituting “oneself.” The supplied article τῇ is expressed through the grammatical phrase “in its relation.” The clause τὸ κατ’ ἀξίαν … τοῦ πρέποντος combines due worth with what is fitting; “the due worth of what is fitting” keeps that relation visible without supplying an unexpressed beneficiary.

564.Κατορθοῦσιν is acting rightly or succeeding in right action, opposed to the preceding errors. The statement gives virtue the role of guiding action; it does not merely credit the virtuous with possessing goods. The different errors in choice, acquisition, and use provide the opposites in which the virtuous are said to act rightly.

565.Προαιρεῖσθαι is deliberate choice, distinguished here from judging and acting; the supplied τὸ makes the final infinitive parallel to the others and needs no independent English word. Φρόνησις, practical wisdom, leads across the spheres of the other virtues as well as its own. The compressed “more and less” is taken to qualify the preceding distinctions, without adding a new list of objects. The other virtues each delimit their particular sphere. This completes source section II.7.14; II.7.15 next defines virtue.

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.