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.7.24.9–II.7.24.10

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Facing Pages · Branch 257 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.24.9–II.7.24.10

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 510

Εὐδαίμων καὶ καλὸς βίος

II.7.24.9

Διαφέρειν δὲ τὸν εὐδαίμονα βίον τοῦ καλοῦ, καθ’ ὅσον ὁ μὲν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν εἶναι βούλεται διὰ παντός, ὁ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς παρὰ φύσιν· καὶ πρὸς ὃν μὲν οὐκ αὐτάρκης ἡ ἀρετή, πρὸς ὃν δὲ αὐτάρκης.

Μέσος βίος καὶ καθήκοντα

II.7.24.10

Μέσον δέ τινα βίον εἶναι τὸν κατὰ τὴν μέσην ἕξιν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὰ καθήκοντα ἀποδίδοσθαι· τὰ μὲν γὰρ κατορθώματα ἐν τῷ κατ’ ἀρετὴν εἶναι βίῳ, τὰ δ’ ἁμαρτήματα ἐν τῷ κατὰ κακίαν, τὰ δὲ καθήκοντα ἐν τῷ μέσῳ καλουμένῳ βίῳ.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 511

The Happy and the Noble Life

II.7.24.9

The happy life differs from the noble life in that the former requires conditions in accordance with nature throughout, while the latter can exist even amid conditions contrary to nature.⁶⁹³ Virtue is not sufficient for the former, but is sufficient for the latter.⁶⁹⁴

The Intermediate Life and Appropriate Actions

II.7.24.10

There is an intermediate life, that in accordance with the intermediate state, in which appropriate actions are also performed.⁶⁹⁵ For correct actions belong to the life in accordance with virtue, errors to the life in accordance with vice, and appropriate actions to the life called intermediate.⁶⁹⁶

693.Βούλεται, literally wishes or wants, is understood as requires in this characterization of the happy life. Διὰ παντός, throughout, remains a condition of that life. The noble life can exist even amid things contrary to nature; their presence does not by itself make virtuous conduct impossible.

694.The first relative clause refers to the happy life and the second to the noble life. Virtue alone is insufficient for happiness here but sufficient for nobility. This distinction belongs to the Peripatetic account and is not replaced with the earlier Stoic claim that virtue suffices for happiness.

695.The life is classified by an intermediate state, μέση ἕξις, between virtue and vice. It is distinct from the life combining practical and contemplative activity above. Καθήκοντα are appropriate actions, and ἀποδίδοσθαι presents them as performed or discharged.

696.All three correspondences remain: κατορθώματα, correct actions, with virtue; ἁμαρτήματα, errors, with vice; and καθήκοντα, appropriate actions, with the intermediate life. Wachsmuth notes the Stoic vocabulary and refers back to printed p. 119, lines 15–19, translated at II.7.13.9. Its occurrence here is preserved within the Peripatetic exposition. Section 24 ends with this sentence.

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.