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.7.18.5–II.7.18.6

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.18.5–II.7.18.6

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Ancient Greek

p. 444

Τέλειος βίος καὶ χρόνος

II.7.18.5

Καὶ τὸ ‘ἐν βίῳ δὲ τελείῳ’ προσέθεσαν ἐνδείξασθαι βουληθέντες, ὅτι περὶ τοὺς ἤδη προήκοντας ἄνδρας ἡ εὐδαιμονία γίνεται· τὸ γὰρ μειράκιον ἀτελὲς καὶ ὁ τούτου βίος, δι’ ὃ οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο περὶ τοῦτ’ εὐδαιμονία, οὐδ’ ὅλως ἐν ἀτελεῖ χρόνῳ, ἀλλ’ ἐν τῷ τελείῳ. Τέλειον δ’ εἶναι τοῦτον, ὅσον ὥρισεν ἡμῖν ⟨τὸ⟩ πλεῖστον ὁ θεός· ὥρισε δὲ κατὰ πλάτος, καθάπερ καὶ τὸ τοῦ σώματος μέγεθος.

Χρόνος καὶ ὁλοκληρία

II.7.18.6

Ὡς οὖν ἕνα στίχον μὴ ἂν συστῆσαι ὑπόκρισιν μηδὲ μίαν χειρὸς ἔκτασιν ὄρχησιν, μηδὲ μίαν χελιδόνα ποιεῖν ἔαρ, οὕτως μηδὲ βραχὺν χρόνον εὐδαιμονίαν. Τελείαν γὰρ εἶναι δεῖν τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἐκ τελείου συνεστῶσαν ἀνδρὸς καὶ χρόνου καὶ δαίμονος.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 445

A Complete Life and Its Duration

II.7.18.5

They also added “in a complete life” to indicate that happiness occurs in men who have already reached maturity. For a youth is incomplete, and so is his life; hence happiness could not occur in him, nor, in general, in an incomplete period, but in a complete one.⁵⁸⁸ This period is complete when it extends as long as God has set for us at most. He has set it within a range, just as he has set bodily size.⁵⁸⁹

Duration and Completeness

II.7.18.6

Accordingly, just as a single verse could not constitute a dramatic performance, nor a single extension of the hand a dance, nor a single swallow make spring, so a short period could not constitute happiness.⁵⁹⁰ For happiness must be complete, constituted from completeness in the man, the duration, and the fortune allotted to him.⁵⁹¹

588.The passage explains completeness first by maturity rather than by a fixed number of years. Μειράκιον is a youth, contrasted with men who have already advanced in age. The claims are those of the ancient account. “In a complete life” translates the quoted phrase; the embedded δέ serves the connection of the Greek discussion rather than adding a new condition inside the definition.

589.Κατὰ πλάτος means within a breadth or range, here contrasted with one exact measure. The comparison is with bodily size. The supplied τὸ before πλεῖστον is retained in Greek; the English idiom “at most” absorbs its grammatical function. The source gives no numerical lifespan. Θεός is God; the later δαίμων is a separate word and is explained in the next note.

590.All three comparisons are retained. Ὑπόκρισις here is dramatic performance or acting, not hypocrisy. Each example distinguishes an isolated element from a complete activity or season. The spring comparison is printed as ἔαρ; the English does not replace it with the familiar modern form of the proverb about summer.

591.The single adjective τελείου governs the man, time, and δαίμων together. Here δαίμων is rendered “the fortune allotted to him,” expressing the governing lot or fortune in a life; the source has not introduced a separate doctrine about a personal demon. The translation preserves this third requirement alongside the person and duration, rather than reducing completeness to age alone.

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.