Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

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 31 · II.31.108–II.31.109c

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 427 of 516

Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.108–II.31.109c

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 850

⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩

II.31.108

Πολλὰ ὁ αὐτὸς μιμεῖσθαι ⟨εὖ⟩ ὥσπερ ἓν οὐ δυνατός.

⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩

II.31.109a

Ὅσα δ’ αὖ τῶν μεγάλων δεῖ διαπονεῖσθαι καλῶς, περὶ τούτων δέδοκται πᾶσι καὶ πάλαι τὸ πρότερον ἐν σμικροῖς καὶ ῥᾴοσιν αὐτὰ δεῖν μελετᾶν, πρὶν ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς μεγίστοις.

⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩

II.31.109b

Ῥᾴων δ’ ἐν τοῖς ἐλάττοσι μελέτη παντὸς πέρι μᾶλλον ἢ περὶ τὰ μείζω.

⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩

II.31.109c

Κρεῖττον γάρ που σμικρὸν εὖ, ἢ πολὺ μὴ ἱκανῶς περᾶναι.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 851

⟨From the same author⟩

II.31.108

The same person cannot imitate many things ⟨well⟩ as he can one.¹²⁴⁴

⟨From the same author⟩

II.31.109a

Again, for whatever great matters must be worked through well, everyone has long agreed that one must practice them first in small and easier cases, before tackling the greatest matters themselves.¹²⁴⁵

⟨From the same author⟩

II.31.109b

And practice in any subject is easier on lesser than on greater matters.¹²⁴⁶

⟨From the same author⟩

II.31.109c

For it is better, I suppose, to finish a little well than much inadequately.¹²⁴⁷

1244.The supplied heading refers to Plato, Republic III.394E. Wachsmuth supplies εὖ, well, from Plato in place of the manuscript’s ἐν; the English visibly mirrors the supplement. The contrast concerns doing many kinds of imitation well, rather than simply attempting them.

1245.Sophist 218C. The supplied same-author heading continues the Plato attribution. Διαπονεῖσθαι suggests working through something with effort; μελετᾶν is to practice or exercise oneself. Cases renders the smaller and easier things used for practice. The local περὶ τούτων, “concerning these,” differs from Plato’s wording recorded in the apparatus.

1246.Statesman 286A. Παντὸς πέρι gives the broad scope, “concerning anything”; the comparison concerns the scale of the matters used for practice. The supplied heading again continues Plato. The local μελέτη is practice, and the comparative ῥᾴων means easier.

1247.Theaetetus 187E. Που lightly qualifies the assertion, expressed as “I suppose.” The contrast is between doing a little well and much without sufficient success; περᾶναι means to bring through or finish. The supplied same-author heading continues Plato.

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.