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.8.31.1–II.8.31.2

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Book II Chapter 8 · II.8.31.1–II.8.31.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 580

Ἑρμοῦ

II.8.31.1

Ἔστι τοίνυν οὐσία καὶ λόγος καὶ νόημα καὶ διάνοια. Φέρεται δ’ ἐπὶ τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ δόξα καὶ αἴσθησις. Ἵεται δ’ ὁ λόγος ἐπὶ τὴν οὐσίαν, τὸ δὲ νόημα δι’ αὐτοῦ ἵεται. Ἐμπλέκεται δὲ τὸ νόημα τῇ διανοίᾳ, ἐλθόντα δὲ δι’ ἀλλήλων μία ἰδέα ἐγένοντο, αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς. Φέρεται δ’ ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτῆς διάνοιαν δόξα καὶ αἴσθησις· ταῦτα δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ οὐ μένει, ἔνθεν καὶ ὑπερβάλλει καὶ ἐλλείπει καὶ ἑαυτῷ διαφέρεται· χεῖρον μὲν γίνεται, ὅταν ἀποσπασθῇ τῆς διανοίας· ὅταν δὲ ἀκολουθῇ καὶ πείθηται, κοινωνεῖ τῷ νοηματικῷ λόγῳ διὰ τῶν μαθημάτων.

Ἑρμοῦ — συνέχεια

II.8.31.2

Τὸ δὲ αἱρεῖσθαι ἔχομεν, τὸ γὰρ αἱρεῖσθαι τὸ κρεῖττον ἐφ’ ἡμῖν ἐστιν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἀκουσίως· ἐχομένη γὰρ αἵρεσις τῶν κακῶν πλησιάζει τῇ σωματικῇ φύσει, διὰ ⟨τε⟩ τοῦτο τῷ ἑλομένῳ εἱμαρμένη δυναστεύει.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 8

p. 581

Hermes

II.8.31.1

There are, then, substance, reason, conception, and understanding.⁸¹⁹ Opinion and perception are also borne toward understanding. Reason moves toward substance, and conception moves through reason. Conception is intertwined with understanding; passing through one another, they became a single form, and this is the form of the soul. Opinion and perception are borne toward its understanding; these do not remain in the same condition. As a result, it overshoots, falls short, and disagrees with itself. It becomes worse when it is separated from understanding; but when it follows and obeys, it shares in conceptual reason through learning.⁸²⁰

Hermes continued

II.8.31.2

But we have the power to choose; for choosing the better is up to us, and likewise choosing the worse, unwillingly.⁸²¹ For a choice that clings to evils draws near to bodily nature, ⟨and⟩ for this reason fate has dominion over the person who made the choice.⁸²²

819.The four opening terms are kept distinct: οὐσία, substance; λόγος, reason; νόημα, conception or a thought; and διάνοια, understanding or the activity of thinking. Their distinction matters to the account of how the soul’s form arises. Νοηματικός is rendered conceptual, retaining its relation to νόημα. The heading attributes the excerpt to Hermes without naming a work.

820.The Greek shifts from plural ταῦτα, these, referring to opinion and perception, to singular verbs and ἑαυτῷ, with itself. The English preserves the shift rather than inserting soul as a definite new subject. The pair is treated collectively as unstable when separated from understanding. Μαθήματα are things learned or branches of learning; the text connects them with participation in reason.

821.The printed ἀκουσίως means unwillingly or involuntarily. Its relation to the assertion that choosing is up to us is difficult. Wachsmuth rejects changing it to ἑκουσίως, willingly, while considering whether an additional adversative might be needed. The English retains unwillingly and does not resolve the tension by reversing the word’s meaning.

822.Αἵρεσις is choice; ἐχομένη describes its clinging to evils, and ἑλομένῳ is the person who has chosen. Εἱμαρμένη is fate, while δυναστεύει expresses its rule or dominion. Supplied ⟨τε⟩ is represented by ⟨and⟩. The account ties subjection to fate to the choice’s approach to bodily nature.

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.