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 7 · II.7.11b.2–II.7.11b.4

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 152 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11b.2–II.7.11b.4

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Ancient Greek

p. 300

Τὸ δίκαιον καὶ τὸ πολιτεύεσθαι

II.7.11b.2

Τό τε δίκαιον φασι φύσει εἶναι καὶ μὴ θέσει. Ἑπόμενον δὲ τούτοις ὑπάρχειν καὶ τὸ πολιτεύεσθαι τὸν σοφὸν καὶ μάλιστ’ ἐν ταῖς τοιαύταις πολιτείαις ταῖς ἐμφαινούσαις τινὰ προκοπὴν πρὸς τὰς τελείας πολιτείας·

Νομοθεσία παιδεία καὶ πατρίς

II.7.11b.3

καὶ τὸ νομοθετεῖν δὲ καὶ τὸ παιδεύειν ἀνθρώπους, ἔτι δὲ συγγράφειν τὰ δυνάμενα ὠφελεῖν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας τοῖς γράμμασιν οἰκεῖον εἶναι τοῖς σπουδαίοις καὶ τὸ συγκαταβαίνειν καὶ εἰς γάμον καὶ εἰς τεκνογονίαν καὶ αὑτοῦ χάριν καὶ τῆς πατρίδος καὶ ὑπομένειν περὶ ταύτης, ἐὰν ᾖ μετρία, καὶ πόνους καὶ θάνατον.

Δημοκοπία καὶ βλαβερὰ συγγράμματα

II.7.11b.4

Παρακεῖσθαι δὲ τούτοις φαῦλα, τό τε δημοκοπεῖν καὶ τὸ σοφιστεύειν καὶ τὸ συγγράφειν ἐπιβλαβῆ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν, ἅπερ εἰς σπουδαίους οὐκ ἂν πέσοι.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 301

Justice and Participation in Public Life

II.7.11b.2

They say that what is just exists by nature and not by convention.³⁸⁷ It follows from these claims that the wise person participates in public life, especially in constitutions that show some progress toward complete constitutions.³⁸⁸

Legislation Education and Country

II.7.11b.3

Legislating, educating people, and writing works capable of benefiting their readers are proper to virtuous people. So too are consenting to marriage and to having children, both for one’s own sake and for one’s country, and enduring toil and death on its behalf, if it is moderate.³⁸⁹

Demagoguery and Harmful Writings

II.7.11b.4

Alongside these stand base counterparts: acting as a demagogue, practicing sophistry, and writing things harmful to their readers. Such things would not befall virtuous people.³⁹⁰

387.Φύσει / θέσει contrasts nature with convention or enactment. The claim about justice precedes the account of civic participation; it is not merely a claim that whatever has been enacted is just. Compare Diogenes Laertius VII.128.

388.Πολιτεύεσθαι is participation in civic or political life, and πολιτεία here is a constitution or political order. “Especially” and “some progress” preserve the qualifications. The text refers to constitutions approaching completeness without naming a particular existing state.

389.Συγκαταβαίνειν expresses willingness to enter into marriage and procreation. The final condition, ἐὰν ᾖ μετρία, is feminine and refers to the country, πατρίς. Its moderation qualifies the willingness to endure toil and death on its behalf; the condition is not omitted or transferred to the amount of toil. Compare the civic and family activities at Diogenes Laertius VII.121.

390.The contrast pairs civic participation, education, and beneficial writing with their base counterparts. Δημοκοπεῖν denotes courting popular favor as a demagogue; it does not mean simply participating in a democracy. The closing claim concerns the virtuous people of the account.

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.