From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordMental disease describes an opinion hardened into a settled craving-related state; infirmity adds weakness, distinguishing both from susceptibility and from ordinary bodily illness elsewhere.
- In StobaeusThe account includes excessive attachment and opposing aversions, then names infirmities as diseases accompanied by weakness; these are related classifications rather than one undifferentiated condition.
- In this editionExplain the local evaluative metaphor without turning the article into a modern medical diagnosis, and distinguish the settled opinion from a temporary passion or an ordinary bodily disease.
- A place to readChapter 7 · Excerpt 10e · Passage 2 Read the judgments about choiceworthiness before the attachment and aversion examples, then the brief final distinction; the category depends on evaluation, settledness and weakness in different ways.
- English renderings
- disease; hardened passion; infirmity
Meaning
Nosēma and arrōstēma name moral-psychological conditions in the Stoic account. Medical language describes the settled force of evaluative opinions rather than providing a modern diagnostic classification.
Use in the book
A disease is an opinion associated with craving that has become a hardened state, treating what is not choiceworthy as exceedingly choiceworthy. Love of money, wine and women supply examples; corresponding aversions are also discussed. Diseases occurring together with weakness are called infirmities. The account follows the prior definition of susceptibility, so a tendency, a passing passion and a hardened condition must not be made identical. The terms also need distinguishing from ordinary bodily disease elsewhere in the volume.
The definition specifies a change in condition: an opinion has developed into a settled state and become hardened. Its error is evaluative, treating something not choiceworthy as exceedingly choiceworthy. The examples are then extended by an opposite group arising through aversion, so the account does not restrict the problem to acquisitive attraction. The final sentence introduces infirmities by adding weakness rather than replacing the previous definition. The supplied these in the aversion clause remains marked; the relation between the two groups is preserved without making every explanatory word independently transmitted.
“Diseases occurring together with weakness are called infirmities.” (Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10e · Passage 2).
Places to read
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10e · Passage 22Hardened opinion and the distinction between disease and infirmity.
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10e · Passage 12Susceptibility is the preceding, distinct category.
Translation in this edition
“Disease” and “infirmity” preserve the source’s analogy; the article explains their particular ethical sense.
Νόσημα
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10e · Passage 2; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 93.
Νόσημα δ’ εἶναι δόξαν ἐπιθυμίας ἐρρηγυῖαν εἰς ἕξιν καὶ ἐνεσκιρωμένην,
ἀρρωστήματα
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10e · Passage 2; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 93.
μισανθρωπίαν. Τὰ δὲ νοσήματα μετ’ ἀσθενείας συμβαίνοντα ἀρρωστήματα καλεῖσθαι.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed p. 93. The examples belong to the ancient account’s evaluations; they are not presented as current medical categories.