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.7.18.1

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Ancient Greek Page · Branch 221 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.18.1

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 438

Τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ ἡ εὐδαιμονία

II.7.18.1

[Πόσα μέρη τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ· καὶ περὶ σκοποῦ.]

Διαιρεῖσθαι δὲ τἀγαθὸν εἰς τε τὸ καλὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ συμφέρον καὶ εἰς τὸ ἡδύ· καὶ τῶν μὲν κατὰ μέρος πράξεων τούτους εἶναι σκοπούς· τὸ δ’ ἐκ πάντων αὐτῶν εὐδαιμονίαν. Εὐδαιμονίαν δ’ εἶναι ‘χρῆσιν ἀρετῆς τελείας ἐν βίῳ τελείῳ χορηγουμένην’ ἢ ‘ζωῆς τελείας ἐνέργειαν κατ’ ἀρετήν’ ἢ ‘χρῆσιν ἀρετῆς ἐν τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν ἀνεμπόδιστον’. Τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ καὶ τέλος ὑπάρχειν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 439

The Good and Happiness

II.7.18.1

The good is divided into the noble, the beneficial, and the pleasant. These are the aims of particular actions; what arises from all of them is happiness.⁵⁸⁰ Happiness is “the exercise of complete virtue, provided for in a complete life,” or “the activity of a complete life in accordance with virtue,” or “the unhindered exercise of virtue amid things in accordance with nature.” The same thing is also the end.⁵⁸¹

580.The rejected summary heading reads “How many parts there are of the good; and on the aim.” As with the preceding later headings, the Greek brackets are retained and the heading is translated here. Καλόν, συμφέρον, and ἡδύ are the noble, beneficial, and pleasant respectively. The statement about their combination retains the compressed τὸ δ’ ἐκ πάντων αὐτῶν; it does not supply a further list of goods.

581.The three formulations are alternatives introduced by ἢ, “or.” Χρῆσις is exercise or use, whereas ἐνέργεια is activity. “Provided for” follows Wachsmuth’s printed correction χορηγουμένην in place of προηγουμένην. It anticipates the explanation of supporting goods below, rather than making “complete” mean merely a lifetime that has ended. The expressions complete virtue, complete life, and provided for are unpacked in the following paragraphs. Τέλος is the end toward which action is directed.

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.