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.31.110t

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Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.110t

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Ancient Greek

p. 870

⟨Ἐν ταὐτῷ⟩

II.31.110t

Οὐκοῦν ὅτι μὲν σώματα καὶ ψυχὰς τήν γε ὀρθὴν πάντως δεῖ τροφὴν φαίνεσθαι δυναμένην ὡς κάλλιστα καὶ ἄριστα ἐργάζεσθαι, τοῦτο μὲν ὀρθῶς εἴρηταί που. — Τί μήν; — Σώματα δὲ κάλλιστα, οἶμαι, τό γε ἁπλούστατον, ὡς ὀρθότατα δεῖ νέων ὄντων εὐθὺς φύεσθαι τῶν παίδων. — Πάνυ μὲν οὖν. — Τί δέ; τόδε οὐκ ἐννοοῦμεν, ὡς ἡ πρώτη βλάστη παντὸς ζῴου πολὺ μεγίστη καὶ πλείστη φύεται, ὥστε καὶ ἔριν πολλοῖς παρέσχηκε μὴ γίγνεσθαι τά γ’ ἀνθρώπινα μήκη διπλάσια ἀπὸ πέντε ἐτῶν ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς εἴκοσιν ἔτεσιν αὐξανόμενα; — Ἀληθῆ. — Τί οὖν; πολλὴ αὔξη ὅταν ἐπιρρέῃ πόνων χωρὶς πολλῶν καὶ συμμέτρων, οὐκ ἴσμεν ὅτι μυρία κακὰ ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν ἀποτελεῖ; — Καὶ πάνυ γε. — Οὐκοῦν τότε δεῖται πλείστων πόνων, ὅταν ἡ πλείστη τροφὴ προσγίγνηται τοῖς σώμασιν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 871

⟨In the same work⟩

II.31.110t

Then I suppose it has been rightly said that proper nurture must in every case be seen to be capable of making bodies and souls as beautiful and good as possible. — Of course. — As for making bodies most beautiful, the simplest point, I think, is that children must grow as straight as possible from their earliest years. — Yes, indeed.¹²⁷²

And what of this? Do we not realize that every living thing’s first growth is by far its greatest and most abundant—so much so that it has even given many cause for dispute that human stature does not double as it increases during the twenty remaining years after age five? — True.¹²⁷³

What, then? When great growth comes without numerous and proportionate exertions, do we not know that it produces countless evils in the body? — Most certainly. — Then bodies need the most exertion when they receive the most nourishment.¹²⁷⁴

1272.Laws VII.788C–789A. The same-work heading is supplied and continues Plato. Τροφή is nurture, including nourishment. The elliptical σώματα δὲ κάλλιστα, bodies most beautiful, is connected in English with the preceding making. The following ὡς ὀρθότατα concerns children growing as straight as possible.

1273.The printed ἔριν means dispute. The negative μὴ γίγνεσθαι is retained: human stature does not become double during the twenty years following age five. This is the growth comparison stated in the dialogue, contrasting that later increase with the initial growth of living things.

1274.Πόνοι are exertions or labors; the earlier phrase requires them to be both numerous and proportionate, σύμμετροι. The conclusion connects the greatest nourishment with the greatest exertion. The replies and the comparative claims remain part of the excerpt’s dialogue.

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.