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.7.4a.4–II.7.4a.5

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English Page · Branch 87 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.4a.4–II.7.4a.5

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Ancient Greek

p. 170

Περὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν · διαιρέσεις

II.7.4a.4

Ἔτι καὶ τοῦτον ἐνδιαστελοῦμαι τὸν τρόπον· Πλάτων πολύφωνος ὢν, οὐχ ὥς τινες οἴονται πολύδοξος, πολλαχῶς διῄρηται τἀγαθόν. Διχῶς μὲν τῷ γένει· τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὰ μὲν θεῖα, τὰ δὲ ἀνθρώπινα· θεῖα μὲν τὰς περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀρετὰς λέγων, ἀνθρώπινα δὲ τὰς περὶ τὸ σωματικὸν μέρος εὐεξίας καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκτὸς λεγομένων εὐπορίας. Τριχῶς δὲ τοῖς τόποις. Τῶν γὰρ ἀγαθῶν τὰς μὲν περὶ ψυχήν, τὰς δὲ περὶ σῶμα, τὰς δ’ ἐν τοῖς ἐκτὸς ἀρετὰς εἴποις ἂν καὶ εὐεξίας καὶ εὐπορίας.

Περὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν · διαιρέσεις · συνέχεια

II.7.4a.5

Πενταχῶς δὲ τοῖς εἴδεσι. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τἀγαθὸν τὴν ἰδέαν αὐτὴν ἀποφαίνεται, ὅπερ ἐστὶ θεῖον καὶ χωριστόν· δεύτερον δὲ τὸ ἐκ φρονήσεως καὶ ἡδονῆς σύνθετον, ὅπερ ἐνίοις δοκεῖ κατ’ αὐτὸν εἶναι τέλος τῆς ἀνθρωπίνου ζωῆς· τρίτον αὐτὴν καθ’ αὑτὴν τὴν φρόνησιν· τέταρτον τὸ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιστημῶν καὶ τεχνῶν σύνθετον· πέμπτον αὐτὴν καθ’ αὑτὴν τὴν ἡδονήν. Ταύταις κέχρηται ταῖς διαστολαῖς ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Νόμων μάλιστα κἂν τῷ Φιλήβῳ.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 171

On Goods and Evils · Divisions 1

II.7.4a.4

I shall also make the distinction in this way. Plato, who speaks with many voices but does not hold many doctrines, as some suppose, has divided the good in many ways. By kind, he divides goods into two: divine and human. He calls the virtues of the soul divine, and the good conditions of the bodily part and the resources derived from what are called external things human. By their fields, he divides them into three: one might describe goods of the soul as virtues, those of the body as good conditions, and those in external things as resources.¹⁸⁹

On Goods and Evils · Divisions 2

II.7.4a.5

By forms, the division is fivefold. First, he declares the good to be the Form itself, which is divine and separate; second, the composite of practical wisdom and pleasure, which some believe to be, according to him, the end of human life; third, practical wisdom itself on its own; fourth, the composite of sciences and arts; fifth, pleasure itself on its own. He uses these distinctions especially in the first book of the Laws and in the Philebus.¹⁹⁰

189.The narrator distinguishes a twofold division by kind from a threefold division by field or location: soul, body, and external circumstances. Εὐεξία means a good condition, especially bodily condition; εὐπορία means having resources or means available. The claim that Plato’s varied expression is doctrinally consistent repeats the source’s interpretation in II.7.3f; it is not a conclusion added by the translator.

190.The first item is the Form of the Good itself; “forms” in the introductory classification translates εἴδη more generally as the divisions being listed. The qualification ἐνίοις δοκεῖ, “some believe,” is retained for the mixture of practical wisdom and pleasure. The source does not present all five items as equally good or equally final. “Sciences and arts” renders ἐπιστῆμαι and τέχναι as organized knowledge and skills.

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.