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Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.110a
Ancient Greek
p. 852Πλάτωνος Νόμων ζʹ
Ἡ μὲν τρυφὴ δύσκολα καὶ ἀκράχολα καὶ σφόδρα ἀπὸ σμικρῶν κινούμενα τὰ τῶν νέων ἤθη ἀπεργάζεται, τὸ δὲ τούτου ἐναντίον ἥ τε σφοδρὰ καὶ ἀγρία δούλωσις ταπεινούς τε καὶ ἀνελευθέρους καὶ μισανθρώπους ποιοῦσα ἀνεπιτηδείους ξυνοίκους ἀποτελεῖ . . . . τοῖς δὲ παιδίοις τὸ δήλωμα ὧν ἐρᾷ καὶ μισεῖ κλαυθμοὶ καὶ βοαί, σημεῖα οὐδαμῶς εὐτυχῆ· ἔστι δὲ ὁ χρόνος οὗτος τριῶν οὐκ ἐλάττων ἐτῶν, μόριον οὐ σμικρὸν τοῦ βίου διαγαγεῖν χεῖρον ἢ μὴ χεῖρον. — Ὀρθῶς λέγεις. — Ὁ δὴ δύσκολος οὐδαμῶς τε ἵλεως ἆρ’ οὐ δοκεῖ σφῷν θρηνώδης τε εἶναι καὶ ὀδυρμῶν ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ πλήρης μᾶλλον ἢ χρεών ἐστι τὸν ἀγαθόν; . . . ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐμὸς λόγος οὔθ’ ἡδονὰς φησι δεῖν διώκειν τὸν ὀρθὸν βίον οὔτ’ αὖ τὸ παράπαν φεύγειν τὰς λύπας, ἀλλ’ αὐτὸ ἀσπάζεσθαι τὸ μέσον, ὃ νῦν δὴ προσεῖπον ὡς ἵλεων ὀνομάσας.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31
p. 853Plato, Laws VII
Indulgence makes the young ill-tempered, irritable and violently upset by trifles. Its opposite, harsh and savage subjection, makes them abject, servile and hostile to others, producing unsuitable companions . . . .1248
Little children express what they love and hate by crying and shouting, signs that are by no means auspicious. This period lasts no less than three years—no small part of life to pass in a worse state or otherwise.
— You are right. —
Does not the ill-tempered man, who is not at all cheerful, seem to you two prone to lamenting and generally fuller of wailing than a good man should be? . . .1249
For my argument is that the right life must neither pursue pleasures nor altogether avoid pains, but embrace the mean itself, which I have just described by calling it cheerful.1250
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.110a
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.