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.8.42.4

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Book II Chapter 8 · II.8.42.4

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Ancient Greek

p. 618

Πορφυρίου — συνέχεια

II.8.42.4

Ἀρέσκει καὶ τὸ τοιαύτην εἶναι τὴν εἱμαρμένην, ἐοικυῖαν ταῖς τῶν νόμων διαγορεύσεσι, νόμον οὖσαν καὶ αὐτὴν καί,

θεῶν ψήφισμα παλαιόν, ἀΐδιον, πλατέεσσι κατεσφρηγισμένον ὅρκοις,

φησὶν Ἐμπεδοκλῆς. Οἵ τε γὰρ νόμοι, οὐκ ἀναγκάζοντες, διαγορεύουσιν, ὡς ἐὰν λῃστεύσῃς, τάδε πείσῃ· ἐὰν δὲ ἀριστεύσῃς, τῶνδε τεύξῃ· οἵ τε καθ’ εἱμαρμένην θεσμοί, ἐὰν βίον ἕλῃ ἀνδρός, οὕτως ζήσῃ, οὐ μὴν ἔτι καὶ ἑλοῦ ἐκ παντὸς ἀναγκάζουσι· καὶ ἐὰν ⟨ἐν⟩ ἀνδράσι γενόμενος βίον ἕλῃ στρατιώτου, τάδε σε παθεῖν καὶ δρᾶσαι ἀνάγκη, οὐ μὴν ἔτι βίον σε ἀνάγκη ἑλέσθαι στρατιώτου καὶ τάδε παθεῖν ⟨καὶ δρᾶσαι⟩ ἐξ ἀνάγκης.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 8

p. 619

Porphyry continued

II.8.42.4

It is also acceptable to hold that fate is of this kind, resembling the pronouncements of laws, being itself a law and also,

an ancient decree of the gods, everlasting, sealed with broad oaths,

as Empedocles says.⁸⁶⁷ For laws pronounce, without compelling: if you commit robbery, you will suffer these things; if you excel, you will obtain these rewards. So too the ordinances of fate declare: if you choose a man’s life, you will live in this way; they do not, however, compel you outright to choose it as well. And if, having come to be ⟨among⟩ human beings, you choose a soldier’s life, you must undergo and do these things; yet you are not thereby compelled to choose a soldier’s life and to undergo ⟨and do⟩ these things out of necessity.⁸⁶⁸

867.The two verse lines are attributed to Empedocles in the source, where Wachsmuth cites verses 369–370 in Stein’s numbering. Broad oaths follows πλατέεσσι… ὅρκοις and retains the unusual image. The verse is embedded in Porphyry’s description of fate as law; it is not a new excerpt or a separate claim by Stobaeus.

868.The printed ἑλοῦ, choose!, is the imperative in the command that the ordinances do not compel one to obey. The law analogy distinguishes a conditional consequence from compulsion to satisfy its condition: a law specifies what follows robbery without forcing someone to rob. Likewise the soldier’s obligations follow the choice of that secondary life. The contrast retains both the primary human life and an occupation within it. Supplied ⟨ἐν⟩ is shown as ⟨among⟩ and ⟨καὶ δρᾶσαι⟩ as ⟨and do⟩. The necessity in the final clause remains within the contrast rather than making the initial choice compulsory.

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.