Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 47 · I.47.4–I.47.5

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 459 of 879

Book I Chapter 47 · I.47.4–I.47.5

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p. 914

4 · Πλάτωνος

I.47.4

Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδωνος.

Τοὺς μὲν χρηστοὺς καὶ πονηροὺς σφόδρα ὀλίγους εἶναι ἑκατέρους, τοὺς δὲ μεταξὺ πλείστους.

5 · Πλάτωνος

I.47.5

Πλάτωνος Νόμων εʹ.

Καὶ γάρ, ὦ Μέγιλλέ τε καὶ Κλεινία, μηδὲ τοῦθ᾽ ἡμᾶς λανθανέτω περὶ τόπων, ὡς οὐκ εἰσί τινες ἄλλοι διαφέροντες ἄλλων τόπων πρὸς τὸ γεννᾶν ἀνθρώπους ἀμείνους καὶ χείρους, οἷς οὐκ ἐναντία νομοθετητέον. Οἱ μέν γέ που διὰ πνεύματα παντοῖα καὶ δι᾽ εἰλήσεις ἀλλόκοτοί τέ εἰσι καὶ ἐναίσιοι αὐτῶν, οἱ δὲ δι᾽ ὕδατα, οἱ δὲ δι᾽ αὐτὴν τὴν ἐκ τῆς γῆς τροφὴν ἀναδιδοῦσαν, οὐ μόνον τοῖς σώμασιν ἀμείνω καὶ χείρω, ταῖς ψυχαῖς δὲ οὐκ ἧττον δυναμένην πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐμποιεῖν.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 47

p. 915

4 · Plato: most people lie between the extremes

I.47.4

From Plato, from the Phaedo.

Good people and bad people are very few in each class; those between them are the most numerous.¹¹⁷⁷

5 · Plato: place and human character

I.47.5

From Plato, Laws, Book V.

For, Megillus and Clinias, let us not overlook this matter concerning places, as though some places did not differ from others in producing better and worse human beings. We must not legislate in opposition to these differences.¹¹⁷⁸ Some places are unfavorable or favorable because of their various winds and exposures to the sun, others because of their waters, and others because of the very nourishment supplied by the earth. This produces better and worse effects upon bodies and is no less capable of bringing about all such effects in souls.¹¹⁷⁹

1177.Phaedo 90a. The excerpt preserves an infinitive construction detached from its introductory clause; the English gives it as a statement. Sphodra, “very,” stands with “few” in the printed wording.

1178.Laws 747d-e. Wachsmuth retains ouk, “not,” in the first subordinate clause, although Ficino deleted it. “As though ... did not” interprets that difficult negative construction in light of the differences asserted immediately afterward; the Greek negative remains visible.

1179.The printed enaisioi is “favorable” or “auspicious,” paired with allokotoi, literally “strange” or “uncongenial.” The apparatus records exaisioi as an alternative, but that is not the text printed here. The argument extends the influence of environment and food from bodily condition to character.

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.