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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.31.110g
Ancient Greek
p. 858Πολιτείας ϛʹ
Παντὸς σπέρματος πέρι ἢ φυτοῦ εἴτ’ ἐγγείων εἴτε τῶν ζῴων ἴσμεν, ὅτι τὸ μὴ τυχὸν τροφῆς ἧς προσήκει μηδὲ ὥρας μηδὲ τόπου, ὅσῳ ἂν ἐρρωμενέστερον ᾖ, τοσούτῳ πλειόνων ἐνδεῖ τῶν πρεπόντων· ἀγαθῷ γάρ που κακὸν ἐναντιώτερον ἢ τῷ μὴ ἀγαθῷ. — Πῶς δ’ οὔ; — Ἔχει δή, οἶμαι, λόγον τὴν ἀρίστην φύσιν ἐν ἀλλοτριωτέρᾳ οὖσαν τροφῇ κακίον’ ἀπαλλάττειν τῆς φαύλης. — Ἔχει. — Οὐκοῦν, καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς φῶμεν οὕτω τὰς εὐφυεστάτας κακῆς παιδαγωγίας τυχούσας διαφερόντως κακὰς γίγνεσθαι; ἢ οἴει τὰ μεγάλα ἀδικήματα καὶ τὴν ἄκρατον πονηρίαν ἐκ φαύλης, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐκ νεανικῆς φύσεως τροφῇ διολομένης γίγνεσθαι, ἀσθενῆ δὲ φύσιν μεγάλων οὔτε ἀγαθῶν οὔτε κακῶν ποτε αἰτίαν ἔσεσθαι;
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31
p. 859Republic VI
We know of every seed or growing thing, whether of the earth or of animals, that if it receives neither its proper nourishment, season nor place, the stronger it is, the greater its need of what suits it. For what is bad is, I suppose, more opposed to what is good than to what is not good.1256
— How could it not be? —
It makes sense, then, I think, for the best nature, under less suitable nurture, to fare worse than an inferior one.1257
— It does. —
Then shall we also say of souls that the most gifted, when given bad upbringing, become exceptionally bad? Or do you think that great injustices and unalloyed wickedness arise from an inferior nature, rather than a vigorous nature ruined by nurture, while a weak nature will never cause great good or evil?1258
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.110g
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.