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.7.3g.1

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Facing Pages · Branch 79 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.3g.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 154

Περὶ τέλους · Ἀριστοτέλης

II.7.3g.1

Ἀριστοτέλης χρῆσιν ἀρετῆς τελείας ἐν ⟨βίῳ τελείῳ⟩ χορηγουμένην. Ἡ μὲν οὖν χρῆσίς ἐστι πλέον τῆς κτήσεως· ἐνέργειαν γὰρ εἶναι βούλεται τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν, καὶ τὸ τέλος ἡμετέραν ⟨πρᾶξιν⟩. Ἡ δ’ ἀρετὴ ἕξις ἡ βελτίστη ψυχῆς· ‘τελεία’ δὲ τριχῶς, καὶ γὰρ ἡ σύνθετος ἐκ τῶν θεωρητικῶν καὶ πρακτικῶν καὶ ἠθικῶν (τρία γὰρ ὑποτίθεται γένη), ἣν ἂν εἴποις ἀρετὴν κατὰ σύνθεσιν· καὶ ἡ ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων δυνάμεων συμπεπληρωμένη, φύσεως, λόγου, ἔθους (ταύτην κατ’ ἀριθμὸν ἐρεῖ τις)· καὶ ἡ κατὰ συμφωνίαν τοῦ λογικοῦ μέρους πρὸς τἄλογον τῆς ψυχῆς, περὶ ὧν ὑποβὰς διαρθρώσω.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 155

On the End · Aristotle 1

II.7.3g.1

Aristotle takes the end as the exercise of complete virtue, furnished with resources in ⟨a complete life⟩. Exercise is more than possession: for he holds that happiness is an activity, and the end an ⟨action⟩ of ours.¹⁷³ Virtue is the soul’s best disposition. It is “complete” in three ways: as a composite of theoretical, practical, and ethical virtues (for he posits three kinds), which one might call virtue complete by composition; as made complete from its proper powers, nature, reason, and habit (one might call this completeness by number); and as the harmony of the rational part of the soul with the nonrational part. I shall explain these matters further as I proceed.¹⁷⁴

173.Wachsmuth supplies ⟨βίῳ τελείῳ⟩, “a complete life,” and ⟨πρᾶξιν⟩, “action.” Χορηγουμένην, “furnished with resources,” is a consequential editorial correction repeated throughout this account; the next unit explains that the resources must be good. The formulation is the source’s summary of Aristotle, not presented as a verbatim sentence from the Nicomachean Ethics.

174.The three explanations of “complete” are retained separately, including the source’s threefold classification into theoretical, practical, and ethical virtues. The second concerns the three contributing powers, nature, reason, and habit; the third concerns the relation between the soul’s rational and nonrational parts. Neither the classification nor the forward-looking first person is an addition by the translator.

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.