From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordA hindrance obstructs something in a particular respect. What obstructs bodily activity need not therefore obstruct choice or every possible activity of the person.
- In StobaeusEpictetus distinguishes disease and lameness from impediments to choice, preserving an explicit condition; the Sophist uses an internal obstacle to explain why instruction can fail.
- In this editionName what is hindered and retain the condition concerning choice. Keep the large supplied span visible rather than treating all its wording as independently transmitted.
- A place to readChapter 8 · Excerpt 22 Read the two bodily examples and the qualification about choice, keeping the supplied continuation distinct from the surviving opening and unbracketed final address.
- English renderings
- hindrance; obstacle; obstructing
Meaning
An empodion is a hindrance; the related adjective describes what stands in the way. The word directs attention to what is obstructed, so a hindrance in one respect need not obstruct every activity of a person.
Use in the book
Epictetus makes disease a hindrance to the body and lameness a hindrance to a leg, while denying that they thereby hinder choice, unless choice itself wishes it. The condition is part of the claim. In the Sophist, obstructing opinions prevent the soul from benefiting from lessons, as something within a body can prevent nourishment from benefiting it. Refutation removes this epistemic obstacle. The two settings distinguish bodily and educational hindrances; neither warrants treating bodily impairment as unreal or supposing that every obstacle can simply be wished away.
The argument proceeds by specifying an object rather than denying that an impediment exists. Disease obstructs the body; lameness obstructs a leg. The comparison then asks whether the same event necessarily obstructs choice. The qualification that choice itself may wish it remains part of that claim and must not disappear in a summary. The final personal address sharpens the contrast, but does not make the physical conditions unreal. The reader can distinguish levels of obstruction without treating bodily limitation as either a moral failure or a mere illusion.
Places to read
- Chapter 8 · Excerpt 222Bodily hindrance is distinguished from hindrance to choice.
- Chapter 31 · Excerpt 129 · Passage 72Opinions obstructing learning are removed before instruction can benefit the soul.
Translation in this edition
Use “hindrance” or “obstacle,” naming its object. In the educational analogy, “obstructing opinions” is more exact than an unspecified disability of the soul.
ἐμπόδιον
Attested. Chapter 8 · Excerpt 22; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 157.
Νόσος σώματός ἐστιν ἐμπόδιον, προαιρέσεως δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν, ἐὰν μὴ αὐτὴ θελήσῃ.
ἐμποδίους
Attested. Chapter 31 · Excerpt 129 · Passage 7; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 254.
τὰς τοῖς μαθήμασιν ἐμποδίους δόξας ἐξελών
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed pp. 157, 254. The noun and adjective form a lexical family. The first sentence of Epictetus provides an unsupplied witness, independent of the substantial supplement later in that excerpt.