From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordRivalry and jealousy name related comparative feelings, but zēlos also means admiration or imitation; the Greek word does not identify one uniform moral condition throughout the report.
- In StobaeusThe Stoic definitions distinguish lacking another person’s attainment from resenting another’s also attaining something desired, while explicitly acknowledging further uses of rivalry outside that first definition.
- In this editionKeep the several senses of zēlos visible, and retain the supplied also in jealousy’s definition rather than presenting that editorial addition as independently transmitted running text.
- A place to readChapter 7 · Excerpt 10c · Passage 5 Read the complete sequence from envy through rivalry to jealousy, noticing how another sense introduces admiration and imitation rather than merely another example of the first distress.
- English renderings
- rivalry; emulation; jealousy
Meaning
Zēlos has several senses in the chapter, while zēlotypia receives a distinct definition. The English words rivalry, emulation and jealousy must follow those local distinctions.
Use in the book
One form of zēlos is distress when another obtains what one craves and one does not. The text also uses the word for admiration felt by someone in want and imitation of a person considered superior. Jealousy, in contrast, is distress that another also obtains what one desired. The supplied “also” in that definition sharpens the difference and must remain identified as supplied. The Peripatetic list can include zēlos among feelings without immediately condemning it as vice, so its moral status cannot be inferred from one translation alone.
The contrast depends on what happens to the two people. In the first definition of rivalry, someone else obtains what the person craving it does not obtain. Jealousy instead concerns another person’s also obtaining the desired object; the small word also is supplied. Between these definitions, the report names admiration by someone in want and imitation of a superior as additional uses of rivalry. Those uses prevent a reader from assigning distress, vice or resentment to every occurrence of the same noun without checking its immediate sense.
The report also uses rivalry for “the admiration felt by someone in want” (Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10c · Passage 5).
Places to read
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10c · Passage 52Three senses of zēlos and the contrast with jealousy.
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 20 · Passage 72Emulation appears in the broader list of passions.
Translation in this edition
Use “rivalry” or “emulation” according to sense; reserve “jealousy” for the separate term here.
ζῆλος
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10c · Passage 5; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 92.
Φθόνος δὲ λύπη ἐπ’ ἀλλοτρίοις ἀγαθοῖς· ζῆλος δὲ λύπη ἐπὶ τῷ ἕτερον ἐπιτυγχάνειν ὧν αὐτὸς ἐπιθυμεῖ, αὐτὸν
ζηλοτυπίαν
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 10c · Passage 5; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 92.
ἐνδεοῦς καὶ ἔτι ἄλλως μίμησιν ὡς ἂν κρείττονος· ζηλοτυπίαν δὲ λύπην ἐπὶ τῷ ⟨καὶ⟩ ἕτερον ἐπιτυγχάνειν ὧν αὐτὸς ἐπεθύμει·
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed pp. 92, 139. The jealousy definition contains an editorially supplied καί; the nouns themselves have direct running-text witnesses.