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.31.117–II.31.119

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 446 of 516

Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.117–II.31.119

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Ancient Greek

p. 888

Ἰαμβλίχου Εὐσταθίῳ περὶ μουσικῆς

II.31.117

. . . . ⟨ἓ⟩ν ἐκεῖνο εἰδότας, ὡς αἵ τε μεγάλαι φύσεις τὰ μεγάλα κακὰ γεννῶσι διαφθαρεῖσαι καὶ τὰ κράτιστα ἐπιτηδεύματα πάντως ἐστὶ βλαβερώτατα ἐπὶ τὸ κακὸν ῥέψαντα.

II.31.118

Γεωμέτρης τις τὸν Διογένην ἀπαίδευτον καὶ ἀμαθῆ ἐκάλει· ὁ δὲ «συγγίνωσκέ μοι», ἔφη, «μὴ μαθόντι ἃ μηδὲ Χείρων τὸν Ἀχιλλέα ἐδίδαξε [τουτέστι γεωμετρεῖν]».

Ἐκ τῶν Ἀριστοξένου Πυθαγορικῶν ἀποφάσεων

II.31.119

Ἔφασκον δὲ καὶ τὰς μαθήσεις πάσας τῶν τε ἐπιστημῶν καὶ τῶν τεχνῶν τὰς μὲν ἑκουσίους ὀρθάς τε εἶναι καὶ εἰς τέλος ἀφικνεῖσθαι, τὰς δὲ ἀκουσίους φαύλους τε καὶ ἀτελεῖς γίνεσθαι.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 889

Iamblichus, to Eustathius, On Music

II.31.117

. . . . knowing this ⟨one⟩ thing: that great natures produce great evils when corrupted,¹²⁹⁸ and even the best pursuits are certainly most harmful when they turn toward evil.¹²⁹⁹

II.31.118

A certain geometer called Diogenes uneducated and ignorant. “Forgive me,” he said, “for not having learned what not even Chiron taught Achilles.”¹³⁰⁰

From Aristoxenus’s Pythagorean Sayings

II.31.119

They also used to say that, in all study of the sciences and the arts, voluntary learning is sound and reaches its goal, while involuntary learning proves poor and incomplete.¹³⁰¹

1298.The four opening dots mark omitted material. Only ἓ is supplied in ⟨ἓ⟩ν, one; the English marks the complete word. The participle εἰδότας, knowing, remains dependent on the omitted context.

1299.Φύσεις refers to natural constitutions or endowments. Ἐπιτηδεύματα are pursuits or practices; their excellence does not prevent harm when they turn toward evil. The text connects corruption with the great natures, and the turn toward evil with the pursuits.

1300.The narrative has no separate author heading. The bracketed τουτέστι γεωμετρεῖν, that is, to do geometry, is rejected by Meineke and omitted from the English. The reply invokes Chiron as Achilles’ teacher while challenging the geometer’s measure of education.

1301.The heading presents these as Pythagorean sayings; the plural they belongs to the excerpted account. Ἑκούσιος and ἀκούσιος contrast willing and unwilling learning. Τέλος, goal or completion, and ἀτελής, incomplete, link the contrast to whether the study reaches its end.

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.