Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

Explore the Lexicon

Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 15 · II.15.46.4–II.15.46.5

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

English Page · Branch 363 of 516

Book II Chapter 15 · II.15.46.4–II.15.46.5

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 722

Λυκίου — συνέχεια

II.15.46.4

Τί οὖν, εἶπεν ὁ Μουσώνιος, ταῦτα μὲν ταύτῃ ἔχει· περὶ δὲ σωφροσύνης ἢ ἐγκρατείας τοῦ ἃ χρὴ δύνασθαι λέγειν οὐ πολὺ κρεῖττον τὸ ἐγκρατῆ γενέσθαι καὶ σώφρονα περὶ τὰ πραττόμενα πάντα; Συνεχώρει κἀνταῦθα ὁ νεανίσκος, ἧττον καὶ φαυλότερον εἶναι τοῦ σωφρονεῖν ἔργῳ τὸ λέγειν περὶ σωφροσύνης ἱκανῶς.

Λυκίου — συνέχεια

II.15.46.5

Ὅθεν ὁ Μουσώνιος συνάπτων τοῖς προειρημένοις, πῶς οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις, ἔφη, τὸ τὸν ἑκάστου λόγον ἐπίστασθαι πράγματος κρεῖττον ἂν εἴη τοῦ ἐθίζεσθαι καὶ πράττειν τὰ πράγματα κατὰ τὴν ὑφήγησιν τὴν τοῦ λόγου; ἐπείπερ τὸ μὲν ἔθος πρὸς τὸ δύνασθαι πράττειν ἄγει, τὸ δ’ ἐπίστασθαι λόγον τοῦ πράγματος πρὸς τὸ δύνασθαι λέγειν. Συνεργεῖ μὲν γὰρ καὶ τῇ πράξει ὁ λόγος διδάσκων ὅπως πρακτέον καὶ ἔστι τῇ τάξει πρότερος τοῦ ἔθους· οὐ γὰρ ἐθισθῆναί τι καλὸν οἷόν τε μὴ κατὰ λόγον ἐθιζόμενον· δυνάμει μέντοι τὸ ἔθος προτερεῖ τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι ἐστὶ κυριώτερον ἐπὶ τὰς πράξεις ἄγειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἤπερ ὁ λόγος.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 15

p. 723

Lucius on Musonius continued

II.15.46.4

“What, then?” said Musonius. “That is how matters stand in those cases. But in matters of temperance or self-control, is becoming self-controlled and temperate in everything one does not far better than being able to say the proper things about them?” The young man conceded this as well: speaking competently about temperance is weaker and of less value than being temperate in action.¹⁰³⁶

Lucius on Musonius continued

II.15.46.5

Musonius then connected this with what had been said: “Given this, how could knowing the reasoned account of each matter be better than becoming accustomed to act and acting in accordance with that account’s guidance? Habit leads to the ability to act, whereas knowing the account of a matter leads to the ability to speak.¹⁰³⁷ The account does, indeed, also assist action by teaching how one should act, and comes before habit in order: one cannot become accustomed to anything noble unless one is habituated in accordance with an account. Yet in effectiveness habit comes before the account, because it has greater power to lead a person to action than the account does.”¹⁰³⁸

1036.The passage pairs σωφροσύνη, temperance or sound self-restraint, with ἐγκράτεια, self-control. Musonius now transfers the comparisons with skilled crafts to moral conduct. The young man prefers the actual exercise of the virtue to the ability to speak competently about it.

1037.Λόγος remains an account or reasoned teaching, and ὑφήγησις its direction or guidance. The practice favored by Musonius is itself practice according to such guidance. The distinction concerns what chiefly develops the ability to act and what chiefly develops the ability to speak.

1038.Priority is explicitly qualified: teaching comes first τῇ τάξει, in order, because good habituation requires rational direction; habit takes precedence δυνάμει, in effectiveness or power, because it more effectively leads a person to act. The conclusion preserves both the practical superiority of habit and the necessary contribution of reasoned teaching.

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.