Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 54 of 879

Book I Chapter 2 · I.2.heading–I.2.reconstruction

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Ancient Greek

p. 104

Κεφάλαιον Βʹ

I.2.heading

Περὶ τῶν νομιζόντων μὴ εἶναι πρόνοιαν καὶ ἑπομένας ταύτῃ θείας ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ παντὸς διοικήσει δυνάμεις.

Σοφοκλῆς Οἰδίποδι

I.2.reconstruction

Πρόνοια δ’ ἐστὶν οὐδενὸς ⟨σαφής·⟩ εἰκῇ κράτιστον ζῆν, ὅπως δύναιτό τις.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 2

p. 105

Chapter 2: The denial of providence

I.2.heading

On those who think that there is no providence, nor divine powers attendant upon it in the government of the universe.¹⁰¹

Sophocles, Oedipus: proposed reconstruction

I.2.reconstruction

There is no ⟨certain⟩ foreknowledge of anything; it is best to live at random, as one can.¹⁰²

101.The entire chapter is lost in the manuscripts described by Wachsmuth. He restores its title from Photius and discusses evidence for its former contents on pp. 51–52. The quotation below is his proposed reconstruction of one possible excerpt; it is not a surviving passage of this chapter. The Latin discussion is outside this translation’s scope.

102.Oedipus Tyrannus 978–979. Wachsmuth proposes that Stobaeus probably quoted these lines here, drawing on the parallel discussion in Theophilus, To Autolycus II.8; he supplies saphēs from Sophocles. Pronoia can mean foresight or providence. “Foreknowledge” suits the dramatic saying; its placement under a heading denying providence would give it a further argumentative use. The characters’ words should not be treated as a declaration of Sophocles’s own doctrine.

About This Reading Edition

Stobaeus gathered Greek philosophy and poetry for his son Septimius. Volume I presents the dedication testimony, On Arithmetic, Book I through chapter 60, and the ancient contents of all four books. This complete bilingual edition includes an introduction and 2,117 explanatory notes.

Historical Text and Translation

The Greek follows Curt Wachsmuth’s 1884 Volume I, checked against the supplied scan. Gaps, lost-chapter headings, and uncertain attributions remain visible. Chapter 2 includes a labeled proposed reconstruction. The appendix outlines Books I–IV; the full texts of Books II–IV are outside this volume. Reader pages preserve the companion PDF’s numbering.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the Greek. Prose and verse retain their distinct forms, with mixed passages preserving their quoted verse. Every passage is paired with its Greek and identified by the edition’s reference number. All 2,117 notes remain linked to their passages, with continuous numbering across the introduction and text.

Rights

Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 printing are in the public domain. The independent English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The complete supplied edition is available as PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown. The PDF retains the fixed page locations used by the companion lexicon.