From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordWise, virtuous and base characterize ethical agents within their respective accounts; a favorable office or circumstance alone does not establish the disposition that these classifications describe.
- In StobaeusThe Stoic report relates two classes of people to sustained use of virtues or vices, interpreting doing well through practical wisdom, temperance and the other virtues.
- In this editionRead the idealized ethical classification with its explanation of doing well; do not make success, status or possession of authority a substitute for the disposition being described.
- A place to readChapter 7 · Excerpt 11g · Passage 2 Follow the movement from the two classes through their use of virtues or vices to the explanatory phrase that is; it defines the kind of doing well asserted.
- English renderings
- wise; virtuous; morally excellent; base
Meaning
These descriptions mark the agents around whom many technical ethical claims are organized. Sophos stresses wisdom, spoudaios moral excellence, and phaulos the deficient or base person.
Use in the book
The Stoic account recognizes two kinds of human beings, virtuous and base, and relates their conduct to virtues or vices throughout life. Its claims that the wise person knows, rules, acts correctly or is free often concern disposition rather than the possession of an office or a favorable external condition. It can also recognize differences in persuasion or quickness among virtuous agents without increasing their virtue. The Peripatetic exposition uses excellent-person language within a different analysis of acquired state, external conditions and practical judgment.
The paragraph interprets its sweeping claim rather than leaving well as a bare description of success. It explains the virtuous person’s conduct through experience in life and through acting wisely, temperately and according to the other virtues. The base person supplies the opposed case. Throughout life gives the classification an enduring scope, but this passage does not test it by comparing particular offices, wealth or outcomes. The entry helps a reader keep the stated ethical criterion visible when later claims use ordinary vocabulary such as ruling, freedom or expertise.
“that is, wisely, temperately, and in accordance with the other virtues” (Chapter 7 · Excerpt 11g · Passage 2).
Places to read
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 11g · Passage 22Two ethical classes are defined through virtue and vice.
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 11i · Passage 62Rule can belong to disposition without actual office.
- Chapter 7 · Excerpt 11p2Differences among virtuous agents concern intermediate qualities.
Translation in this edition
Do not make “base” mean low social birth, or “wise” merely well informed.
σπουδαίων
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 11g · Passage 2; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 99.
φιλοσόφοις δύο γένη τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἶναι, τὸ μὲν τῶν σπουδαίων, τὸ δὲ τῶν φαύλων· καὶ τὸ μὲν τῶν σπουδαίων διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου
φαύλων
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 11g · Passage 2; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 99.
ἀνθρώπων εἶναι, τὸ μὲν τῶν σπουδαίων, τὸ δὲ τῶν φαύλων· καὶ τὸ μὲν τῶν σπουδαίων διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου χρῆσθαι ταῖς ἀρεταῖς,
σοφόν
Attested. Chapter 7 · Excerpt 11m · Passage 16; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 111.
Ψεῦδος δ’ ὑπολαμβάνειν οὐδέποτέ φασι τὸν σοφόν, οὐδὲ τὸ παράπαν ἀκαταλήπτῳ τινὶ συγκατατίθεσθαι, διὰ τὸ μηδὲ
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed pp. 99, 102, 113–114. The combined article groups related classifications while retaining the different Greek words.