Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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Facing Pages · Branch 95 of 516
Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5b1.2–II.7.5b2.1
Ancient Greek
p. 186Ὁρισμοὶ κακιῶν καὶ ἀρετῆς
ἀφροσύνην δὲ ⟨ἄγνοιαν⟩ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν καὶ οὐδετέρων, ἢ ἄγνοιαν ὧν ποιητέον καὶ οὐ ποιητέον καὶ οὐδετέρων· ἀκολασίαν δὲ ἄγνοιαν αἱρετῶν καὶ φευκτῶν καὶ οὐδετέρων· ⟨ἀδικίαν δὲ ἄγνοιαν μὴ ἀπονεμητικὴν τῆς ἀξίας ἑκάστῳ⟩· δειλίαν δὲ ἄγνοιαν δεινῶν καὶ οὐ δεινῶν καὶ οὐδετέρων. Παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρετὰς καὶ κακίας ὁρίζονται, τῶν εἰρημένων ἐχόμενοι. Κοινότερον δὲ τὴν ἀρετὴν διάθεσιν εἶναί φασι ψυχῆς σύμφωνον αὑτῇ περὶ ὅλον τὸν βίον.
Πρῶται καὶ ὑποτεταγμέναι ἀρεταί
Τῶν δ’ ἀρετῶν τὰς μὲν εἶναι πρώτας, τὰς δὲ ταῖς πρώταις ὑποτεταγμένας· πρώτας δὲ τέτταρας εἶναι, φρόνησιν, σωφροσύνην, ἀνδρείαν, δικαιοσύνην. Καὶ τὴν μὲν φρόνησιν περὶ τὰ καθήκοντα γίνεσθαι· τὴν δὲ σωφροσύνην περὶ τὰς ὁρμὰς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου· τὴν δὲ ἀνδρείαν περὶ τὰς ὑπομονάς· τὴν δὲ δικαιοσύνην περὶ τὰς ἀπονεμήσεις. Τῶν δὲ ὑποτεταγμένων ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ταύταις τὰς μὲν τῇ φρονήσει ὑποτετάχθαι, τὰς δὲ τῇ σωφροσύνῃ, τὰς δὲ τῇ ἀνδρείᾳ, τὰς δὲ τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7
p. 187Definitions of the Vices and of Virtue
Folly is ⟨ignorance⟩ of things good, evil, and neither; or ignorance of what should be done, what should not be done, and what is neither. Intemperance is ignorance of what is choiceworthy, what is to be avoided, and what is neither. ⟨Injustice is ignorance that fails to assign each their due worth.⟩ Cowardice is ignorance of things terrible, things not terrible, and things neither.208 They define the other virtues and vices similarly, following what has been said. More generally, they say that virtue is a disposition of the soul in agreement with itself throughout the whole of life.209
Primary and Subordinate Virtues
Of virtues, some are primary and others subordinate to the primary virtues. The primary virtues are four: practical wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. Practical wisdom concerns appropriate actions; temperance, human impulses; courage, acts of endurance; and justice, assignments of what is due. Of the virtues subordinate to these, some fall under practical wisdom, some under temperance, some under courage, and some under justice.210
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5b1.2–II.7.5b2.1
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.