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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

Stobaeus, Volume I

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 3 · I.3.14a–I.3.15a

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 58 of 879

Book I Chapter 3 · I.3.14a–I.3.15a

Ancient Greek

p. 112

14a Εὐριπίδης Μελανίππῃ

I.3.14a
Δοκεῖτε πηδᾶν τἀδικήματ’ εἰς θεοὺς πτεροῖσι, κἄπειτ’ ἐν Διὸς δέλτου πτυχαῖς γράφειν τιν’ αὐτά, Ζῆνα δ’ εἰσορῶντά νιν θνητοῖς δικάζειν; οὐδ’ ὁ πᾶς ἂν οὐρανὸς Διὸς γράφοντος τὰς βροτῶν ἁμαρτίας ἐξαρκέσειεν, οὐδ’ ἐκεῖνος ἂν σκοπῶν πέμπειν ἑκάστῳ ζημίαν· ἀλλ’ ἡ Δίκη ἐνταῦθά πούστιν ἐγγύς, εἰ βούλεσθ’ ὁρᾶν.

14b ⟨Ἀδήλου τραγικοῦ ποιητοῦ⟩

I.3.14b
Λύπας μὲν ἀνθρώποισιν, ὦ γύναι, θεοὶ τοῖσιν διδοῦσιν, οὓς ἂν ἐχθαίρωσ’, ἐπεὶ οὐ σφιν πονηρόν ἐστιν.

15a Εὐριπίδης Φρίξῳ

I.3.15a
Ὅστις δὲ θνητῶν οἴεται τοὐφ’ ἡμέραν κακόν τι πράσσων τοὺς θεοὺς λεληθέναι, δοκεῖ πονηρὰ καὶ δοκῶν ἁλίσκεται, ὅταν σχολὴν ἄγουσα τυγχάνῃ Δίκη.
112

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 3

p. 113

14a Euripides, Melanippe

I.3.14a

Do you think wrongdoings leap up to the gods on wings, and someone then writes them down in the folds of Zeus’s tablet, and Zeus looks at them and passes judgment on mortals? Not even the whole sky would suffice if Zeus were writing down humanity’s sins; nor could he examine them and send a penalty to each. But Justice is somewhere here, close by, if you are willing to see.114

14b ⟨An unidentified tragic poet⟩

I.3.14b

Woman, the gods give grief to those human beings they hate, since it is no hardship to them.115

15a Euripides, Phrixus

I.3.15a

Any mortal who thinks that, doing some evil from day to day, he has escaped the gods’ notice thinks wrongly, and is caught in that belief whenever Justice has leisure.116

113

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.