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.7.19.1

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.19.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 456

Τριχῶς τὸ ἀγαθόν

II.7.19.1

[Ποσαχῶς λέγεται τὸ ἀγαθόν.]

Ἐπεὶ δ’ ἡμῖν εὐδαιμονία τὸ μέγιστον ἀγαθόν, διαιρετέον ποσαχῶς λέγεται τὸ ἀγαθόν. Τριχῶς δή φασι λέγεσθαι τό τε γὰρ πᾶσι τοῖς οὖσι σωτηρίας αἴτιον καὶ τὸ κατηγορούμενον παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ καὶ τὸ δι’ αὑτ’ αἱρετόν· ὧν τὸ μὲν θεῖον εἶναι τὸ πρῶτον, τὸ δὲ γένος τῶν ἀγαθῶν ⟨τὸ δεύτερον⟩, τὸ δὲ ⟨τρίτον τὸ⟩ τέλος, ἐφ’ ὃ πάντα ἀναφέρομεν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν εὐδαιμονία.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 457

Good in Three Senses

II.7.19.1

Since happiness is for us the greatest good, we must distinguish the senses in which “good” is used. They say that it is used in three senses: the cause of preservation for all existing things, what is predicated of every good, and what is choiceworthy for its own sake.⁶⁰⁸ Of these, the first is the divine, ⟨the second⟩ the genus of goods, and ⟨the third the⟩ end to which we refer everything, which is happiness.⁶⁰⁹

608.The rejected summary heading reads “In how many senses good is spoken of.” It remains bracketed in Greek and is translated here. The opening concerns senses of a word, rather than three interchangeable objects. Σωτηρία is preservation or continued safety here; the first sense assigns a preserving cause to all existing things. The second is the predicate good applied to every particular good, and the third concerns choice for something’s own sake.

609.The supplied τὸ δεύτερον and τρίτον τὸ remain bracketed in both languages. Θεῖον is the divine, γένος genus, and τέλος end. The concluding identification with happiness belongs to the third sense. The following classifications explore goods under different distinctions; their successive divisions should be read as the account presents them.

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.