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.8.39.8–II.8.39.9

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Facing Pages · Branch 305 of 516

Book II Chapter 8 · II.8.39.8–II.8.39.9

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Ancient Greek

p. 606

Πορφυρίου — συνέχεια

II.8.39.8

Πάντα μὲν οὖν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἠρτῆσθαι συμβέβηκεν ⟨ἐκ⟩ τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἡ δὲ τεῦξις αὐτῶν οὐ πάντως ἐφ’ ἡμῖν, ἀφ’ οὗ δ’ ἄν τινος τύχωμεν, τῇ τάξει αὐτοῦ ἕπεσθαι ἀνάγκη. Δέδοται μέντοι ἐπὶ πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν ἐχόντων μεσότητα καὶ μὴ ἤδη εἰς κακίαν ἀνηγμένων τὸ χρήσθαι τοῖς βίοις οὗ τις μέτεισιν, ἢ κακῶς ἢ καλῶς. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τυραννίδας τινὲς προαχθέντες ἤπιοι καὶ πρᾶοι γεγόνασι καὶ βασιλείαις πονηρῶς ἐχρήσαντο.

Πορφυρίου — συνέχεια

II.8.39.9

Τούτων ⟨δὲ⟩ οὕτως ἐχόντων ἡ μὲν αἵρεσις τῶν βίων ταῖς ἔξω ψυχαῖς προηγουμένως τῶν πρώτων ἐστί, κἄπειτα αἱρεθέντος ἥ τε Ἀνάγκη τὸ ἀπαραίτητον ἐκύρωσεν, ὅ τε δαίμων ἐπηκολούθησεν, ὡς ἂν δὴ τοῦ βίου προστάτης ὢν καὶ ἐπόπτης ἕκαστος ἑκάστου, συναναγκάζων ἐμμένειν τὰς ψυχὰς τῷ αἱρεθέντι καὶ μὴ προβλέπειν, αἵ τε Μοῖραι τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐπένησαν ἑκάστῳ βίον, ⟨οἷον⟩ τὰ [τε] γιγνόμενα διὰ παντὸς μαρτυρεῖ τοῦ χρόνου.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 8

p. 607

Porphyry continued

II.8.39.8

All such things, then, have come to depend ⟨on⟩ choice, but their attainment is not altogether up to us; once we obtain one of them, we must follow its order.⁸⁵⁰ Yet in practically all lives occupying a middle position and not already classed as vicious, it is granted to use the lives one pursues either badly or well. For some advanced to tyrannies have proved gentle and mild, and kingships have been used badly.⁸⁵¹

Porphyry continued

II.8.39.9

⟨Now⟩, this being so, the choice of the primary lives belongs in the first instance to souls outside bodies. Once one had been chosen, Necessity ratified its inescapable character and the daimon followed, each as protector and supervisor of the particular life, compelling the souls to remain in what has been chosen and not look beyond it.⁸⁵² The Fates spun such a life for each, ⟨as⟩ events bear witness throughout all time.⁸⁵³

850.Προαίρεσις is deliberate choice. Supplied ⟨ἐκ⟩ is represented by ⟨on⟩ with depend. The sentence distinguishes choosing a pursuit, attaining it, and the order or conditions that accompany it once attained. Οὐ πάντως means not altogether; it does not remove every role for the agent in attaining the object.

851.The middle position describes lives not already classified as vicious, so that good and bad uses remain distinguishable. The printed relative οὗ in the clause about the lives one pursues is compressed and has been questioned by editors; the English conveys the contextual sense without changing that Greek. The tyranny and kingship examples distinguish the name of a position from the use made of it. The subject of the kingship example is not expressed, and the English leaves it unspecified.

852.The primary lives are the kinds of existence distinguished in II.8.39.5–6, such as human or animal life. The souls outside are those choosing before embodiment in the myth. Porphyry applies Necessity and the daimon’s guardianship to that primary choice. Wachsmuth retains προβλέπειν, to look ahead; look beyond it keeps the image in the context of remaining within the selected life, rather than adopting an editorial replacement meaning to abandon it.

853.Supplied ⟨δὲ⟩ is rendered ⟨Now⟩, and ⟨οἷον⟩ as ⟨as⟩. The rejected [τε], and, remains visible in Greek and is omitted from the English sentence. The Fates’ spinning and the claim that events throughout time attest it belong to Porphyry’s interpretation; the following example gives his proposed evidence.

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.