Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

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Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 9 · II.9.2–II.9.3

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Book II Chapter 9 · II.9.2–II.9.3

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Ancient Greek

p. 656

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ

II.9.2

Ἀνθρώποισι κακὰ ἐξ ἀγαθῶν φύεται, ἐπὴν τις τἀγαθὰ μὴ πιστῆται ποδηγετέειν μηδὲ ὀχέειν εὐπόρως. Οὐ δίκαιον ⟨ὦν⟩ ἐν κακοῖσι τὰ τοιάδε κρίνειν, ἀλλ’ ἐν ἀγαθοῖσι· τοῖσι δὲ ἀγαθοῖσι οἷόν τε χρῆσθαι καὶ πρὸς τὰ κακά, ᾧ τινι βουλομένῳ ἂν εἴη.

⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩

II.9.3

Ὁ μὲν εὔθυμος ἐς ἔργα ἐπιφερόμενος δίκαια καὶ νόμιμα καὶ ὕπαρ καὶ ὄναρ χαίρει τε καὶ ἔρρωται καὶ νηκηδής ἐστιν· ὃς δ’ ἂν καὶ δίκης ἀλογέῃ καὶ τὰ χρεόντα μὴ ἔρδῃ, τούτῳ πάντα τὰ τοιάδε ἀτερπέα· ὅταν τ’ εὖ ἀναμνησθῇ, καὶ δέδοικε καὶ ἑωυτὸν κακίζει.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 9

p. 657

The same author

II.9.2

Bad things grow for human beings out of good things whenever someone does not know how to guide and handle the good things skillfully.⁹¹⁸ It is ⟨therefore⟩ not right to reckon such things among the bad, but among the good. Yet good things can also be used for bad ends, if anyone should wish to.⁹¹⁹

⟨The same author⟩

II.9.3

The person of cheerful mind who turns to just and lawful deeds rejoices both waking and dreaming, is in good condition, and is free from care.⁹²⁰ But for anyone who disregards justice and fails to do what he ought, all such things are joyless; whenever he recollects clearly, he is afraid and reproaches himself.⁹²¹

918.The attribution continues Democritus. The Greek retains Ionic forms including πιστῆται, knows, and the extended infinitives ποδηγετέειν and ὀχέειν. Guiding and handling render the images of leading and carrying or driving; εὐπόρως adds facility or resourcefulness. The harm is connected with failure in the use of good things.

919.Supplied ⟨ὦν⟩, therefore, remains visible in both languages. The conclusion distinguishes classifying something as good from using it for an evil purpose. The final words retain the possibility of a user wishing to make that harmful use; the chapter heading does not remove this qualification from the excerpt.

920.The supplied heading continues the attribution to Democritus. Εὔθυμος describes a cheerful or settled state of mind; its related noun is εὐθυμία. This excerpt connects that condition with just and lawful conduct. It does not use εὐδαιμονία, happiness, or establish that the two terms are interchangeable.

921.Ἔρρωται is in good condition or vigorous, and νηκηδής is free from care; these characterize the just agent’s state in the fragment. In the final clause, the object of recollection is left unstated. The English preserves the remembering and self-reproach without adding a particular offense.

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.