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.7.5b2.6–II.7.5b3

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.5b2.6–II.7.5b3

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Ancient Greek

p. 192

Αἱ ὑπὸ δικαιοσύνην ἀρεταί

II.7.5b2.6

εὐσέβειαν δὲ ἐπιστήμην θεῶν θεραπείας· χρηστότητα δὲ ἐπιστήμην εὐποιητικήν· εὐκοινωνησίαν δὲ ἐπιστήμην ἰσότητος ἐν κοινωνίᾳ· εὐσυναλλαξίαν δὲ ἐπιστήμην τοῦ συναλλάττειν ἀμέμπτως τοῖς πλησίον.

Τὸ κοινὸν τέλος τῶν ἀρετῶν

II.7.5b3

Πασῶν δὲ τούτων τῶν ἀρετῶν τὸ τέλος εἶναι τὸ ἀκολούθως τῇ φύσει ζῆν· ἑκάστην δὲ τούτου διὰ τῶν ἰδίων παρέχεσθαι τυγχάνοντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ἔχειν γὰρ ἀφορμὰς παρὰ τῆς φύσεως καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ καθήκοντος εὕρεσιν καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὁρμῶν εὐστάθειαν καὶ πρὸς τὰς ὑπομονὰς καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἀπονεμήσεις. Καὶ ⟨κατὰ⟩ τὸ σύμφωνον καὶ τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἑκάστη τῶν ἀρετῶν πράττουσα παρέχεται τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀκολούθως τῇ φύσει ζῶντα.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 193

The Virtues under Justice

II.7.5b2.6

Piety is knowledge of service to the gods. Kindness is knowledge that does good. Good fellowship is knowledge of equality in a community. Fair dealing is knowledge of how to conduct dealings blamelessly with one’s neighbors.²¹⁷

The Common End of the Virtues

II.7.5b3

The end of all these virtues is living in accordance with nature. Each makes the human being attain this through what is proper to it. For human beings have starting points from nature toward finding the appropriate action, toward steadiness of impulses, toward acts of endurance, and toward assignments of what is due.²¹⁸ Each virtue, by acting ⟨in accordance with⟩ their agreement and what is its own, makes the human being live in accordance with nature.²¹⁹

217.“Service” renders θεραπεία in its religious sense, not medical treatment. Εὐποιητική describes doing good, rather than merely having a pleasant manner. Good fellowship is defined through equality within a community; fair dealing concerns blameless transactions or dealings with others, not commercial exchange alone. These definitions complete the subordinate-virtue list.

218.The four natural starting points, ἀφορμαί, correspond to the four fields of the primary virtues: practical wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. They are starting points for virtue, not a claim that every person already possesses complete virtue. The common τέλος is the end or aim of life; each virtue contributes through its particular field.

219.The supplied κατά is represented by the bracketed “in accordance with.” Τὸ σύμφωνον names their agreement or harmony, while τὸ ἑαυτῆς names what belongs to each virtue. The sentence brings their common orientation and their particular work together without making their definitions identical. The following source paragraph, II.7.5b4, begins a further distinction between the complete virtues and capacities arising from them.

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.