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.7.19.9–II.7.19.10

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 236 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.19.9–II.7.19.10

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Ancient Greek

p. 468

Φύσις ἐπιμέλεια καὶ τελειότης

II.7.19.9

Τῶν δὲ περὶ ψυχὴν ἀγαθῶν τὰ μὲν αἰεὶ φύσει παρεῖναι, καθάπερ [γὰρ] ὀξύτητα καὶ μνήμην, τό τε ὅλον εὐφυΐαν· τὰ δ’ ἐξ ἐπιμελείας παραγίνεσθαι, ὡς τάς τε προπαιδεύσεις καὶ διαίτας ἐλευθερίους· τὰ δ’ ἐκ τελειότητος ὑπάρχειν, οἷον φρόνησιν, δικαιοσύνην, τελευταῖον δὲ σοφίαν.

Κτῆσις καὶ ἀποβολή

II.7.19.10

Ἔτι δὲ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὰ μὲν εἶναι καὶ κτήσασθαι καὶ ἀποβαλεῖν, ὡς πλοῦτον· τὰ δὲ κτήσασθαι μὲν ἀποβαλεῖν δ’ οὔ, ὡς εὐψυχίαν, ἀθαυμαστίαν· τὰ δὲ ἀποβαλεῖν μὲν κτήσασθαι δ’ οὔ, ὡς αἴσθησιν καὶ τὸ ζῆν· τὰ δ’ οὔτε κτήσασθαι οὔτ’ ἀποβαλεῖν, ὡς εὐγένειαν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 469

Nature Cultivation and Full Development

II.7.19.9

Of goods concerning the soul, some are always present by nature, such as sharpness, memory, and natural aptitude as a whole. Others arise from cultivation, such as preliminary studies and liberal ways of life.⁶²³ Others result from full development, such as practical wisdom, justice, and, last, wisdom.⁶²⁴

Acquisition and Loss

II.7.19.10

Again, some goods can both be acquired and lost, such as wealth. Some can be acquired but not lost, such as stoutheartedness and freedom from astonishment.⁶²⁵ Some can be lost but not acquired, such as sensation and living; some can neither be acquired nor lost, such as noble birth.⁶²⁶

623.The printed αἰεί, always, is retained. Ὀξύτης is sharpness or quickness of mind in this context. The rejected γάρ means “for” and is omitted in English. Προπαιδεύσεις are preliminary studies or preparatory education. Διαῖται ἐλευθέριοι concerns liberal ways of life, with liberal conveying the ancient association with a free person’s cultivation.

624.Τελειότης is completeness or full development; the English keeps this distinct from natural endowment and the process of cultivation. The order of the final list is preserved, including τελευταῖον, last, before wisdom. The source classifies these goods by how they are present or arise; it does not assign a numerical age or timetable for their acquisition.

625.Εὐψυχία is stoutheartedness, the rendering also used in the earlier Stoic list, though the present classification is Peripatetic. Wachsmuth follows a correction of transmitted εὐτυχία, good fortune. Ἀθαυμαστία is freedom from astonishment or wonder; his printed correction replaces transmitted ἀθανασία, immortality. Both examples are translated from the printed text, and the assertion that they cannot be lost remains the source’s claim.

626.All four combinations of acquisition and loss are retained. Sensation and living illustrate goods already given with life that can be lost; the source does not explain the sense of acquisition further here. Noble birth concerns ancestry in this classification. These distinctions concern the specified goods rather than a universal assertion that every virtue is incapable of loss; compare the qualified discussion of virtue’s vulnerability at II.7.18.9.

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.