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.8.29–II.8.30.1

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 290 of 516

Book II Chapter 8 · II.8.29–II.8.30.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 576

Σωκράτους

II.8.29

Σωκράτης ἔφη μεγίστην μὲν ἀρχὴν εἶναι τὴν βασιλείαν, ἀρίστην δὲ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἄρχειν.

Ῥούφου ἐκ τῶν Ἐπικτήτου Περὶ φιλίας · 1

II.8.30.1

Τῶν ὄντων τὰ μὲν ἐφ’ ἡμῖν ἔθετο ὁ θεός, τὰ δ’ οὐκ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν. Ἐφ’ ἡμῖν μὲν τὸ κάλλιστον καὶ σπουδαιότατον, ᾧ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς εὐδαίμων ἐστὶ τὴν χρῆσιν τῶν φαντασιῶν. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὀρθῶς γιγνόμενον ἐλευθερία ἐστίν, εὔροια, εὐθυμία, εὐστάθεια, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ δίκη ἐστὶ καὶ νόμος καὶ σωφροσύνη καὶ ξύμπασα ἀρετή.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 8

p. 577

Socrates

II.8.29

Socrates said that kingship is the greatest rule, but ruling oneself is the best.⁸¹⁵

Rufus from Epictetus’s On Friendship · 1

II.8.30.1

Of existing things, god made some up to us and others not up to us. What he made up to us was the finest and most excellent thing, that through which he himself is happy: the use of impressions.⁸¹⁶ For when this is done correctly, it is freedom, a smooth course, cheerfulness, and steadiness; it is also justice and law and self-control and all virtue.⁸¹⁷

815.The saying distinguishes μεγίστην, greatest in extent or power, from ἀρίστην, best in quality. The repetition of the root in ἀρχή, rule, and ἄρχειν, to rule, carries the contrast from kingship to self-government. The anthology reports the statement as a saying of Socrates without naming a source work.

816.The heading preserves both names: Rufus, from the writings of Epictetus On Friendship. It can be understood as words of Musonius Rufus quoted by Epictetus; the layered attribution is retained instead of assigning the passage exclusively to one author. Wachsmuth compares Epictetus fragment 169 in Schweighäuser; the passage is fragment 4 in Oldfather’s collection.

817.Φαντασίαι are impressions, the appearances presented to the mind; their χρῆσις is the use made of them. The account identifies their correct use with freedom and virtue. Εὔροια, a smooth course or flow, continues the image seen in II.8.23. The striking claim that god himself is happy through this use belongs to the source and remains explicit.

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.