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 7 · II.7.3f.1–II.7.3f.2

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Facing Pages · Branch 77 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.3f.1–II.7.3f.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 150

Περὶ τέλους · Σωκράτης καὶ Πλάτων

II.7.3f.1

Σωκράτης, Πλάτων ταὐτὰ τῷ Πυθαγόρᾳ, τέλος ὁμοίωσιν θεῷ. Σαφέστερον δ’ αὐτὸ διήρθρωσε Πλάτων προσθεὶς τὸ ‘κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν’, φρονήσει δ’ ἐστὶ μόνως δυνατόν, τοῦτο δ’ ἦν τὸ κατ’ ἀρετὴν ⟨ζῆν⟩. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ θεῷ τὸ κοσμοποιὸν καὶ κοσμοδιοικητικόν· ἐν δὲ τῷ σοφῷ βίου κατάστασις καὶ ζωῆς διαγωγή· ὅπερ αἰνίξασθαι μὲν Ὅμηρον εἰπόντα

κατ’ ἴχνια βαῖνε θεοῖο·

Πυθαγόραν δὲ παρ’ αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν· Ἕπου θεῷ· δῆλον ὡς οὐχ ὁρατῷ καὶ προηγουμένῳ, νοητῷ δὲ καὶ τῆς κοσμικῆς εὐταξίας ἁρμονικῷ.

Περὶ τέλους · Πλάτων · συνέχεια

II.7.3f.2

Εἴρηται δὲ παρὰ Πλάτωνι κατὰ τὸ τῆς φιλοσοφίας τριμερές, ἐν Τιμαίῳ μὲν φυσικῶς (προσθήσω δὲ καὶ Πυθαγορικῶς), σημάναντος ἀφθόνως τὴν ἐκείνου προεπίνοιαν· ἐν δὲ τῇ Πολιτείᾳ ἠθικῶς· ἐν δὲ τῷ Θεαιτήτῳ λογικῶς· περιπέφρασται δὲ κἂν τῷ τετάρτῳ περὶ Νόμων ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκολουθίας τοῦ θεοῦ σαφῶς ἅμα καὶ πλουσίως.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 151

On the End · Socrates and Plato 1

II.7.3f.1

Socrates and Plato, agreeing with Pythagoras, take assimilation to god as the end. Plato articulated this more clearly by adding “as far as possible.” It is possible only through practical wisdom, and this means ⟨living⟩ according to virtue. For in god there is the making and governing of the cosmos; in the wise person, the ordering of life and the conduct of living.¹⁶⁸ Homer is said to have hinted at this when he said:

Walk in the god’s footsteps.

Pythagoras is said to have stated it alongside him: “Follow god,” clearly meaning a god who is not visible and leading the way, but intelligible and the harmonizer of cosmic order.¹⁶⁹

On the End · Plato 2

II.7.3f.2

Plato has expressed it according to the threefold division of philosophy: in the Timaeus in terms of nature (and I shall add, in Pythagorean terms), amply indicating Pythagoras’s prior conception; in the Republic in ethical terms; and in the Theaetetus in logical terms. It is also set out, clearly and fully, in the fourth book of the Laws, in the discussion of following god.¹⁷⁰

168.The Platonic reference is Theaetetus 176B. “Assimilation” renders ὁμοίωσις, becoming like; the qualification “as far as possible” is essential. The following explanation compares divine ordering of the cosmos with the wise person’s ordering of a life. The supplied ⟨ζῆν⟩ is shown as ⟨living⟩.

169.Odyssey V.193. The Homeric line originally describes walking behind a god; the present argument gives it a philosophical interpretation. The injunction attributed to Pythagoras is reported by this source, not independently authenticated here. The contrast between visible guidance and an intelligible model belongs to the source’s explanation.

170.Wachsmuth prints these references: Timaeus 90A–D; Republic IX, 585B onward, and X, 608C onward; Theaetetus 176D–E; Laws IV, 716A onward. “Prior conception” renders the unusual προεπίνοια, which Wachsmuth defends in his apparatus. The division into natural, ethical, and logical treatments is the source’s interpretation of Plato. The first-person “I shall add” belongs to the ancient narrator.

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.