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.7.16.2

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 218 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.16.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 432

Καλὰ καὶ ἀναγκαῖα ἀγαθά

II.7.16.2

Τῶν δ’ ἀγαθῶν ἔλεγον τὰ μὲν δι’ ἡμᾶς αἱρετὰ ὑπάρχειν, τὰ δὲ διὰ τοὺς πλησίον· τῶν δὲ δι’ ἡμᾶς τὰ μὲν καλά, τὰ δ’ ἀναγκαῖα. Καλὰ μὲν τάς τε ἀρετὰς καὶ τὰς ἐνεργείας τὰς ἀπ’ αὐτῶν, φρόνησίν τε καὶ τὸ φρονεῖν καὶ δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὸ δικαιοπραγεῖν καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀνάλογον ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων· ἀναγκαῖα δὲ τό τε ζῆν καὶ τὰ πρὸς τοῦτο συντείνοντα καὶ τὴν τῶν ποιητικῶν ἔχοντα χώραν, οἷον τό τε σῶμα καὶ τὰ τούτου μέρη καὶ τὰς χρήσεις αὐτῶν, καὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς λεγομένων εὐγένειαν, πλοῦτον, δόξαν, εἰρήνην, ἐλευθερίαν, φιλίαν, τούτων γὰρ ἕκαστον συμβάλλεσθαί τι πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς χρῆσιν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 433

Noble and Necessary Goods

II.7.16.2

Of goods, they said that some are choiceworthy for our sake, and others for the sake of those around us. Of those that are for our sake, some are noble and others necessary.⁵⁷³ Noble are the virtues and the activities proceeding from them: practical wisdom and exercising practical wisdom, justice and acting justly, and likewise for the rest.⁵⁷⁴ Necessary are living and the things that contribute to it and serve a productive role: the body, its parts and their uses, and, among the things called external, noble birth, wealth, reputation, peace, freedom, and friendship. For each of these contributes something toward the exercise of virtue.⁵⁷⁵

573.The source announces goods chosen for our sake and for the sake of those around us, then subdivides only the former. Wachsmuth records a conjecture that a fuller account of the latter category has fallen out, but observes that even the former category is only subdivided, not fully described; he thinks such omissions are better attributed to Stobaeus than to the copyists. No conjectured paragraph is inserted into the Greek or English.

574.The paired examples distinguish a virtue from its exercise: φρόνησις and φρονεῖν, practical wisdom and exercising it; δικαιοσύνη and δικαιοπραγεῖν, justice and acting justly. Καλός is noble in this ethical classification. The same word described a fine house in the preceding craft example.

575.“Necessary” retains ἀναγκαῖα, while the explanation assigns these goods a productive or contributory role in the exercise of virtue. The body, its parts, and their uses remain separate, as do all six external items. Εὐγένεια concerns noble birth and δόξα reputation here. The printed καὶ τὰς χρήσεις αὐτῶν follows Wachsmuth’s repair of the transmitted wording; no additional adjective describing the uses is 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.