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 8 · II.8.24.1

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Book II Chapter 8 · II.8.24.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 568

Κρίτωνος Πυθαγορείου ἐκ τοῦ Περὶ φρονήσιος

II.8.24.1

Ὁ γὰρ θεὸς οὕτως ἐτεχνάσατο τὸν ἄνθρωπον, δηλόμενος αὐτὸν μήτ’ ἀδυνάτως ἔχεν ποττὰν τῶν καλῶν ὁρμάν, μήτε μὰν πάλιν ἀπροαιρέτως. Ἀρχὰν γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐνεφύτευσε τοιαύταν, ἅ τις καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν ἅμα περιέχει καὶ τὸ προαιρετόν, ἵνα τᾶς μὲν δυνάμιος καὶ κατοχᾶς τῶν ἀγαθῶν αὐτὸς αἴτιος ἔῃ, τᾶς δ’ ἐπὶ ταῦτα παρορμάσιος καὶ κατ’ ὀρθὸν λόγον ὀπαδήσιος ὁ θεός.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 8

p. 569

Crito the Pythagorean from On Practical Wisdom

II.8.24.1

For God fashioned the human being in this way, wishing him neither to lack the power to strive toward noble things nor, on the other hand, to do so without choice.⁸⁰⁴ For he implanted in him a principle of such a kind that it includes both the power to act and the ability to choose, so that the human being himself might be responsible for the capacity for good things and their possession, while God is responsible for the encouragement toward them and the guidance that accords with right reason.⁸⁰⁵

804.The heading attributes the excerpt to Crito the Pythagorean and names a work on practical wisdom; it does not cite Plato’s dialogue Crito. The Doric title φρονήσιος corresponds to φρονήσεως, practical wisdom. Other dialect forms include δηλόμενος, wishing, and ἔχεν, to have or be in a condition. The two negatives distinguish inability to strive for noble things from striving without choice; the passage rejects both conditions.

805.Ἀρχά is a principle or source of action. Τὸ δυνατόν and τὸ προαιρετόν distinguish ability from choice. The paired clauses assign responsibility to the human agent and to God: αὐτός refers to the human being, while ὁ θεός is the explicit subject of the second clause. Κατοχά is possession or holding fast, and ὀπαδήσις is guidance or leading along. The passage coordinates human responsibility with divine encouragement.

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.