Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

Explore the Lexicon

Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 8 · II.8.12–II.8.13

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Ancient Greek Page · Branch 282 of 516

Book II Chapter 8 · II.8.12–II.8.13

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 560

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ

II.8.12

Ἔρωτες ἡμῖν εἰσι παντοῖοι βίου· ὁ μὲν γὰρ εὐγένειαν ἱμείρει λαβεῖν, τῷ δ’ οὐχὶ τούτου φροντίς, ἀλλὰ χρημάτων πολλῶν κεκλῆσθαι βούλεται πάτωρ δόμοις· ἄλλῳ δ’ ἀρέσκει μηδὲν ὑγιὲς ἐκ φρενῶν λέγοντι πείθειν τοὺς πέλας τόλμῃ κακῇ· οἳ δ’ αἰσχρὰ κέρδη πρόσθε τοῦ καλοῦ βροτῶν ζητοῦσιν· οὕτω βίοτος ἀνθρώπων πλάνη. Ἐγὼ ⟨δὲ⟩ τούτων οὐδενὸς χρῄζω τυχεῖν, δόξαν δὲ βουλοίμην ἂν εὐκλείας ἔχειν.

Ὁμήρου Ὀδυσσείας

II.8.13

Εἰ μέν κε ἀσινέας ἐάας, νόστου τε μέδηαι, καί κεν ἔτ’ εἰς Ἰθάκην κακά περ πάσχοντες ἵκοισθε· εἰ δέ κε σίνηαι, τότε τοι τεκμαίρομ’ ὄλεθρον.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 8

p. 561

The same author

II.8.12

We have desires of every kind in life: one longs to gain noble birth, while another has no concern for that, but wants to be called the father of great wealth in his house.⁷⁹¹ Another likes to persuade his neighbors with wicked daring, though nothing sound comes from his mind in speech; and some mortals seek shameful gains before the noble. Thus human life is a wandering astray. I ⟨however⟩ have no wish to obtain any of these; I would wish to have a reputation for honorable renown.⁷⁹²

Homer from the Odyssey

II.8.13

If you leave them unharmed and keep your return in mind, you may yet reach Ithaca, though suffering hardships; but if you harm them, then I foretell destruction for you.⁷⁹³

791.The same author refers to Euripides. Wachsmuth identifies the first eight verses with Rhadamanthys and notes their recurrence elsewhere in Stobaeus under that title. Εὐγένεια is noble birth, here an object of social aspiration. The unusual image father of wealth follows πάτωρ with κεκλῆσθαι, to be called; it is not silently changed into possessing wealth.

792.The contrast is between shameful gain and τὸ καλόν, the noble. Πλάνη is wandering or going astray. Supplied ⟨δὲ⟩ remains bracketed as however. The closing δόξαν εὐκλείας combines reputation with honorable renown; no particular deeds or prize are named. The first-person preference belongs to the fragment’s speaker.

793.Odyssey XI.110–112: Tiresias warns Odysseus about the cattle of the Sun. Them refers to the cattle, whose identity is outside the quoted lines. Both conditions and the qualification though suffering hardships remain. The promise of return is conditional, not a guarantee independent of conduct.

About This Reading Edition

The complete surviving text of Stobaeus’s second book, through II.46.22, in Ancient Greek and English, with an introduction and 1,541 explanatory notes. All forty-six chapter headings remain, including the notices for chapters whose texts are missing.

Historical Text and Translation

Greek: Curt Wachsmuth, Ioannis Stobaei Anthologii libri duo priores, volumen II (Berlin: Weidmann, 1884), printed p. 1 and pp. 3–264. The supplied edition preserves consequential editorial signs, reconstructed joins, qualified attributions, and missing-text notices. English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes: Diotimos Editions, 2026.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 edition are in the public domain. The supplied English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are published with the site owner’s authorization.