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 9 · II.9.7.3–II.9.7.4

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Facing Pages · Branch 339 of 516

Book II Chapter 9 · II.9.7.3–II.9.7.4

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Ancient Greek

p. 674

Ἱεροκλέους — συνέχεια

II.9.7.3

Καὶ μὴν ἀγαθὸς ὁ θεός, πεπληρωμένος εὐθὺς ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς ταῖς ἁπάσαις ἀρεταῖς, ὥστ’ οὐκ ἂν κακοποιητικὸς ὁ θεὸς εἴη, οὐδέ τινων κακῶν αἴτιος, πάντα δὲ τοὐναντίον παρέχων ἀγαθὰ τοῖς λαβεῖν βουλομένοις ἅπασι, χαριζόμενος δὲ σὺν τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ τῶν μέσων, ὅσα κατὰ φύσιν ἡμῖν ἐστι [τὰ] ποιητικά τε τῶν κατὰ φύσιν. Ἓν δὲ καὶ μόνον αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν ⟨ἡ κακία⟩.

Ἱεροκλέους — συνέχεια

II.9.7.4

Ταῦτα χρὴ διειληφέναι, ὡς τῶν μὲν ἀγαθῶν αἰτίων ὄντων τῶν θεῶν, τῶν δὲ κακῶν τῆς κακίας. Τίνα οὖν ἡμῖν τοῦ κακῶς πάσχειν αἴτια; Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν μέσων ἐστί τινα παρὰ φύσιν καὶ δύσχρηστα ἢ νὴ Δία ποιητικὰ τῶν τοιούτων, ἄξιον καὶ περὶ τούτων τὴν νυνὶ διάληψιν ἔχειν, οἷον νόσου λέγω, πηρώσεως, θανάτου, πενίας, δόξης καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων. Πολλὰ τοίνυν πέφυκεν αὐτῶν περαίνειν καὶ ἡ κακία, καὶ ⟨δὴ⟩ δι’ ἀκρασίαν καὶ λαγνείαν πολλαὶ μὲν γίνονται νόσοι, πολλαὶ δὲ πηρώσεις· διά τε ἀδικίαν πολλοὶ μὲν ἐχειροκοπήθησαν καὶ ἄλλας τοιαύτας ἀνεδέξαντο λώβας, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ὅλως ἀπέθανον.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 9

p. 675

Hierocles continued

II.9.7.3

Moreover, the god is good, filled from the very beginning with all the virtues. Accordingly, the god could not produce evil or be the cause of any evils; on the contrary, he offers every good thing to all who are willing to receive it. Along with good things, he also grants some of the intermediate things: those that accord with nature for us and produce what accords with nature.⁹⁴⁵ There is one sole cause of evils: ⟨vice⟩.⁹⁴⁶

Hierocles continued

II.9.7.4

These distinctions must be understood: the gods are the causes of good things, and vice of bad things. What, then, causes us to fare badly? Since some intermediate things are contrary to nature and difficult to use—or, by Zeus, produce things of that kind—it is worth applying the present distinction to them too: I mean illness, physical impairment, death, poverty, reputation, and the like.⁹⁴⁷ Vice too, then, is naturally capable of producing many of these, and ⟨indeed⟩ many illnesses and many impairments result from lack of self-control and lust. Because of injustice many have had their hands cut off and suffered other such mutilations, while many have even died outright.⁹⁴⁸

945.Τὰ μέσα, intermediate things, are the things classed as morally indifferent, distinct from virtue and vice. Here the partitive τῶν μέσων refers to those that accord with nature and produce what accords with nature, rather than to all indifferents. Rejected [τὰ], the article before ποιητικά, remains in Greek but is omitted from English.

946.The subject ⟨ἡ κακία⟩ is supplied in the source edition and remains marked as ⟨vice⟩. The claim concerns moral evils; the next part asks separately about external hardships, distinguishing their causes from the gods’ goodness.

947.Τὰ μέσα, intermediate things, are neither virtue nor vice in themselves, even when contrary to nature. The printed δόξης means reputation; it is retained despite sitting awkwardly among these examples. The later ἀδόξους explicitly describes people without a good reputation.

948.Supplied ⟨δή⟩ is rendered ⟨indeed⟩. The excerpt attributes many such outcomes to vice, without saying that every illness or death has that cause. Its examples connect mutilation and death with injustice; matter is subsequently introduced as another cause.

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.