#stobaeus

And every good is worth choosing; for it is pleasing and approved of and praiseworthy. 

And every bad thing is worth avoiding. 

For the good, insofar as it stimulates reasonable choice, is worth choosing; and insofar as it is subject to choice without suspicion, it is pleasing. 

And, moreover, insofar as one would reasonably suppose that it is one of the products of virtue, it is praiseworthy. 

IMAGE: Edmund Leighton, The Dedication (1908) 

For this week’s Reading the Hermetica discussion, we’re continuing our reading and discussion of the Stobaean Hermetic Fragments (SH), specifically fragment 24 (SH 24).  This is the second section of the text called the Korē Kosmou (KK) or “Virgin of the World”.  As ever, if you don’t have a copy of Litwa’s Hermetica II or Festugière/Nock’s Hermès Trismégiste (and I strongly urge you get at least…

Οὐχ οἷον δὲ μεθυσθήσεσθαι τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντα· τὴν γὰρ μέθην ἁμαρτητικὸν περιέχειν, λήρησιν εἶναι <γὰρ> παρὰ τὸν οἶνον

- Joannes Stobaeus

Consistently with this, the Stoics hold also that the wise man acts with good sense, and dialectically and sympotically and erotically; but the erotic man is so called in two senses, the one who is virtuous and gets his quality from virtue, and the one who is blamed, who gets his quality from vice—a sort of sex fiend. . . . 

And being worthy of sexual love means the same as being worthy of friendship, and not the same as being worthy of being enjoyed; for he who is worthy of virtuous sexual love is properly worthy of sexual love. 

They understand virtue exercised at a symposium as similar to virtue in sexual matters, the one being knowledge that is concerned with what is appropriate at a symposium, namely, of how one should run symposia and how one should drink at them; and the other is knowledge of how to hunt for talented young boys, which encourages them to virtuous knowledge, and in general, knowledge of proper sexual activity. 

That is why they say that the sensible man will engage in sexual activity. And sexual activity just by itself is an indifferent, since at times it also occurs among base men. But sexual love is not desire, nor is it directed at any base object, but is an effort to gain friendship resulting from the appearance of beauty. 

For this week’s Reading the Hermetica discussion, we’re continuing our reading and discussion of the Stobaean Hermetic Fragments (SH), specifically fragments 8, 12, 13, 14, and 7 (SH 8 + SH 12 + SH 13 + SH 14 + SH 7).  These texts touch on providence, necessity, fate, and justice as guiding principles of the world, its functioning, and our right-relationship to it and to God.  As ever, if you…