Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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English Page · Branch 483 of 516
Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.127.1–II.31.127.2
Ancient Greek
p. 962Ξενοφῶντος ἐν δʹ Σωκρατικῶν ἀπομνημονευμάτων
Γεωμετρίαν μέχρι μὲν τούτου ἔφη δεῖν μανθάνειν, ἕως ἱκανός ⟨τις⟩ γένοιτο, εἴ ποτε δεήσειε, γῆν μέτρῳ ὀρθῶς ἢ παραλαβεῖν ἢ παραδοῦναι ἢ διανεῖμαι ἢ ἔργον ἀποδείξασθαι. οὕτω δὲ τοῦτο ῥᾴδιον εἶναι μαθεῖν, ὥστε τὸν προσέχοντα τὸν νοῦν τῇ μετρήσει ἅμα τὴν τε γῆν ὁπόση ἐστὶν εἰδέναι καὶ ὡς μετρεῖται ἐπιστάμενον ἀπιέναι. τὸ δὲ μέχρι τῶν δυσξυνέτων διαγραμμάτων γεωμετρίαν μανθάνειν ἀπεδοκίμαζεν. ὅ τι μὲν γὰρ ὠφελοίη ταῦτα, οὐκ ἔφη ὁρᾶν· καίτοι οὐκ ἄπειρός γε αὐτῶν ἦν· ἔφη δὲ ἱκανὰ εἶναι ἀνθρώπου βίον κατατρίβειν καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν τε καὶ ὠφελίμων μαθημάτων ἀποκωλύειν.
Ξενοφῶντος — συνέχεια
ἐκέλευε δὲ καὶ ἀστρολογίας ἐμπείρους γίγνεσθαι καὶ ταύτης μέντοι μέχρι τοῦ νυκτός τε ὥραν καὶ μηνὸς καὶ ἐνιαυτοῦ δύνασθαι γιγνώσκειν ἕνεκα πορείας τε καὶ πλοῦ καὶ φυλακῆς, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἢ νυκτὸς ἢ μηνὸς ἢ ἐνιαυτοῦ πράττεται, πρὸς ταῦτ’ ἔχειν τεκμηρίοις χρῆσθαι, τὰς ὥρας τῶν εἰρημένων διαγιγνώσκοντας. καὶ ταῦτα δὲ ῥᾴδια εἶναι μαθεῖν παρά τε νυκτοθηρῶν καὶ κυβερνητῶν καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν, οἷς ἐπιμελὲς ταῦτα εἰδέναι.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31
p. 963Xenophon, Memorabilia, Book IV
He said one should learn geometry until ⟨one⟩ could, if ever necessary, take over, hand over or divide land, or mark out work, correctly by measurement.1413 This, he said, was so easy to learn that a person attending to the measurement would both know the extent of the land and leave understanding how it is measured.1414 But he disapproved of learning geometry as far as diagrams difficult to understand. He said he could not see what benefit these brought, although he was certainly not inexperienced in them. He said they could consume a person’s life and keep him from many other useful subjects.1415
Xenophon continued
He also urged them to gain experience in astronomy, though here too only far enough to recognize the time of night, month and year for journeys, seafaring and guard duty,1416 and for other activities carried out by night, in a month or in a year, to be able to use signs, distinguishing the times just mentioned.1417 These things too, he said, were easy to learn from night hunters, helmsmen and many others whose business it is to know them.1418
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.127.1–II.31.127.2
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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.