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.7.20.1–II.7.20.2

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 238 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.20.1–II.7.20.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 472

Ἡ ἠθικὴ ἀρετὴ καὶ τὰ μέρη τῆς ψυχῆς

II.7.20.1

[Περὶ τῆς ἠθικῆς ἀρετῆς, ὅτι μεσότητες.]

Τούτων δὲ δὴ διωρισμένων, ἐπελθεῖν ἀκριβέστερον ἀναγκαῖον τὰ περὶ τῆς ἠθικῆς ἀρετῆς λεγόμενα. Ταύτην γὰρ ὑπολαμβάνουσι περὶ τὸ ἄλογον μέρος γίνεσθαι τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐπειδὴ διμερῆ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν θεωρίαν ὑπέθεντο τὴν ψυχήν, τὸ μὲν λόγον ἔχουσαν, τὸ δ’ ἄλογον.

Ἀρεταὶ τοῦ λογικοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀλόγου

II.7.20.2

Καὶ περὶ μὲν τὸ λογικὸν τὴν καλοκἀγαθίαν γίνεσθαι καὶ τὴν φρόνησιν καὶ τὴν ἀγχίνοιαν καὶ σοφίαν καὶ εὐμάθειαν καὶ μνήμην καὶ τὰς ὁμοίας· περὶ δὲ τὸ ἄλογον σωφροσύνην καὶ δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἀνδρείαν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς ἠθικὰς καλουμένας ἀρετάς.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 473

Ethical Virtue and the Parts of the Soul

II.7.20.1

With these distinctions now made, we must examine more precisely what is said about ethical virtue.⁶²⁹ For they suppose that it arises in the nonrational part of the soul, since, for the present inquiry, they have assumed that the soul has two parts, one possessing reason and the other nonrational.⁶³⁰

Virtues of the Rational and Nonrational Parts

II.7.20.2

In the rational part arise nobility and goodness, practical wisdom, quickness of wit, wisdom, ease of learning, memory, and similar qualities.⁶³¹ In the nonrational part arise self-control, justice, courage, and the other virtues called ethical.⁶³²

629.The bracketed summary heading reads “On ethical virtue: that the virtues are means.” The Greek moves from singular ethical virtue to plural μεσότητες, means; its wording is retained rather than silently corrected. As with the preceding summary headings, it is translated here. The numbered subdivisions and their short descriptive labels are added for bilingual layout; source section 20 is continuous.

630.Πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν θεωρίαν expressly limits the twofold division to the present inquiry. Ἄλογον means nonrational here, without itself implying viciousness. The grammatical construction shifts between the soul and its parts; the English expresses the division naturally while preserving its qualification.

631.Καλοκἀγαθία, nobility and goodness, remains in this list. Wachsmuth observes that its placement among intellectual qualities is inexact, but declines to alter the text. All six named qualities are retained. Φρόνησις and σοφία remain practical wisdom and wisdom respectively; εὐμάθεια concerns facility in learning.

632.Σωφροσύνη is rendered self-control, consistently with the preceding Peripatetic account. It concerns well-ordered desires, as the examples below explain. It should be distinguished from ἐγκράτεια, the ability to restrain desires despite their opposition, discussed in II.7.15. The classification concerns the part of the soul in which ethical virtue operates.

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.