From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSelf-control can describe reason’s mastery over resistant passion, while virtue is described as harmony; the Stoic subordinate-virtue definition employs the same family in another theoretical setting.
- In StobaeusThe Peripatetic passage distinguishes reason’s victory, the nonrational part’s victory and concord, making obedience and agreement different from a merely successful struggle against desire or feeling.
- In this editionKeep resistant self-control distinct from temperance where the text distinguishes victory from harmony; shared English praise does not erase the different structures of action being described.
- A place to readChapter 7 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 2 Read agreement and rebellion before the three outcomes of their relation; the final clause says not only that reason leads but that the other part follows obediently.
- English renderings
- self-control; lack of control
Meaning
Enkrateia is self-control, with mastery audible in the word family. Akrasia is its opposite, lack of control. The Peripatetic explanation distinguishes this conflict model from fully harmonious virtue.
Use in the book
Reason’s victory over opposing passion is called self-control; the nonrational part’s victory is lack of control. Virtue is instead the agreement of both, reason leading and the other following obediently. In the Stoic subordinate-virtue list, self-control is knowledge that does not transgress what appears in accordance with right reason. The two contexts therefore require qualification: the shared word does not make the Stoic knowledge definition identical to the Peripatetic description of resistance.
The opening as it were qualifies the description of reason and passion as two principles. Their opposition is connected with pleasures and pains, after which the text distinguishes which side wins. But victory does not exhaust the alternatives. Concord receives a separate name, virtue, and is explained through reason leading rightly and the other part following. The point is therefore not the removal of every feeling. It is the difference between overcoming resistance and an ordered relation without that rebellion. The entry preserves this relational account instead of treating all forms of control as one achievement.
“the other follows obediently” (Chapter 7 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 2).
Places to read
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 22Reason’s victory and the contrary victory are distinguished from harmony.
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 5b2 · Passage 42Self-control is a subordinate virtue defined as knowledge.
Translation in this edition
Keep this term distinct from σωφροσύνη even when both receive “self-control” in ordinary English.
ἐγκράτειαν
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 2; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 128.
οὖν τοῦ λόγου νίκην ἀπὸ τοῦ κράτους παρωνύμως ἐγκράτειαν ἐπωνυμίαν ἔχειν, τὴν δὲ τοῦ ἀλόγου διὰ τὸ τῆς ὁρμῆς ἀπειθὲς
ἀκρασίαν
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 15 · Passage 2; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 128.
ἔχειν, τὴν δὲ τοῦ ἀλόγου διὰ τὸ τῆς ὁρμῆς ἀπειθὲς ἀκρασίαν· τὴν δ’ ἀμφοῖν ἁρμονίαν καὶ συμφωνίαν ἀρετήν, τοῦ μὲν ἄγοντος
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed pp. 61, 128. The title identifies the distinct lexical family, not an additional ancient virtue beyond the source’s classifications.