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.7.4b.1–II.7.4b.2

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.4b.1–II.7.4b.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 176

Εἰ πᾶν τὸ καλὸν δι’ αὑτὸ αἱρετόν;

II.7.4b.1

Κατὰ μὲν Πλάτωνα πᾶν. Καὶ γὰρ ἀρετὴν πᾶσαν καὶ τὴν καθ’ ἑκάστην ἕξιν σπουδαίαν καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἥτις ἐστὶ πρᾶξις μετὰ λόγου. Ὠνομάσθαι γοῦν καλόν, ὅτι κλητικόν ἐστιν ἐφ’ αὑτό.

Εἰ πᾶν τὸ καλὸν δι’ αὑτὸ αἱρετόν; · συνέχεια

II.7.4b.2

Τῷ δ’ Ἀριστοτέλει δοκεῖ τὰς μὲν ἕξεις οὐκ εἶναι δι’ αὑτὰς αἱρετάς, δι’ ἄλλο γάρ τι, τὴν ἐνέργειαν. Πᾶσα γὰρ ἕξις διὰ ταύτην ὡς τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα, τοῦτο ⟨δὲ⟩ δι’ αὑτὸ αἱρετὸν ὑπάρχει, ὡς χρῆσις καὶ τέλος τοῦ βίου. Καὶ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν οὗτος μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς χρήσεως ἀναφωνεῖ, Πλάτων δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς κτήσεως. Ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν πρεσβύτερος ἐν τοῖς Νόμοις καὶ ἐν τῷ Τιμαίῳ καί τισιν ἄλλοις ταῦτα κατακεχώρικεν, ὁ δὲ νεώτερος ἐν τοῖς Ἠθικοῖς.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 177

Is Everything Noble Choiceworthy for Itself · 1

II.7.4b.1

According to Plato, everything is. This includes every virtue, the worthy disposition corresponding to each, and its activity, which is action accompanied by reason.¹⁹⁶ It is called “noble” because it calls one toward itself.¹⁹⁷

Is Everything Noble Choiceworthy for Itself · 2

II.7.4b.2

Aristotle, however, holds that dispositions are not choiceworthy for their own sakes, since they are chosen for something else, their activity. Every disposition is for this activity as its purpose; ⟨but⟩ the activity is choiceworthy for its own sake, as exercise and the end of life. Accordingly, he speaks of happiness in terms of exercise, whereas Plato does so also in terms of possession. The older philosopher has recorded these things in the Laws, the Timaeus, and some other works; the younger in his ethical works.¹⁹⁸

196.The question appears at the foot of printed p. 56 and the answer begins p. 57. Ἕξις is a settled disposition; ἐνέργεια is its activity. Wachsmuth cautions in his apparatus that the terminology of activity here is foreign to Plato’s own wording. The passage is a later report of the position attributed to Plato, not a direct quotation from him.

197.The explanation plays on καλόν, “noble” or “beautiful,” and κλητικόν, “calling” or “summoning.” English cannot reproduce the verbal resemblance with “noble.” Wachsmuth compares Plato, Cratylus 416C. The translation preserves the argument as an ancient account of the name, not as an established modern etymology.

198.The older philosopher is Plato and the younger Aristotle. The contrast develops the distinction between possession and exercise in II.7.3f–g. The supplied ⟨δὲ⟩ is shown as ⟨but⟩. “Ethical works” preserves the general plural Ἠθικοῖς rather than restricting the reference to one named treatise. The statements summarize the positions as this source understands them; they are not newly added claims that every use of the terms in Plato or Aristotle fits this contrast.

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.