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.7.11i.9–II.7.11i.10

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Facing Pages · Branch 169 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11i.9–II.7.11i.10

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Ancient Greek

p. 334

Φυγὰς καὶ ἡ πόλις κατὰ φύσιν

II.7.11i.9

Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ φυγάδα πάντα φαῦλον εἶναι, καθ’ ὅσον στέρεται νόμου καὶ πολιτείας κατὰ φύσιν ἐπιβαλλούσης. Τὸν γὰρ νόμον εἶναι, καθάπερ εἴπομεν, σπουδαῖον, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν πόλιν. Ἱκανῶς δὲ καὶ Κλεάνθης περὶ τὸ σπουδαῖον εἶναι τὴν πόλιν λόγον ἠρώτησε τοιοῦτον· Πόλις μὲν ⟨εἰ⟩ ἔστιν οἰκητήριον κατασκεύασμα, εἰς ὃ καταφυγόντας ἔστι δίκην δοῦναι καὶ λαβεῖν, οὐκ ἀστεῖον δὴ πόλις ἐστίν; ἀλλὰ μὴν τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ἡ πόλις οἰκητήριον· ἀστεῖον ἄρ’ ἐστὶν ἡ πόλις.

Τρεῖς σημασίαι τῆς πόλεως

II.7.11i.10

Τριχῶς δὲ λεγομένης τῆς πόλεως, τῆς τε κατὰ τὸ οἰκητήριον καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸ σύστημα τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τρίτον τῆς κατ’ ἀμφότερα τούτων, κατὰ δύο σημαινόμενα λέγεσθαι τὴν πόλιν ἀστείαν, κατά τε τὸ σύστημα τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ κατὰ τὸ συναμφότερον διὰ ⟨τὴν εἰς⟩ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ἀναφοράν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 335

Exile and the City According to Nature

II.7.11i.9

They also say that every base person is an exile, insofar as he is deprived of law and of the constitution appropriate by nature. For law, as we said, is virtuous, and likewise the city.⁴³⁸ Cleanthes too aptly put forward the following argument, in question form, about the city’s being virtuous: “⟨If⟩ a city is a structure for habitation, on taking refuge in which it is possible to give and receive justice, is a city not therefore something morally excellent? But a city is indeed such a dwelling place. Therefore a city is something morally excellent.”⁴³⁹

Three Senses of City

II.7.11i.10

“City” is spoken of in three senses: as the dwelling place, as the community of human beings, and thirdly as both together. The city is called morally excellent in two senses: as the community of human beings and as the two together, because of the reference ⟨to⟩ its inhabitants.⁴⁴⁰

438.The qualification “insofar as” gives the sense of exile: deprivation of law and the constitution appropriate by nature, rather than a statement that every base person has been physically expelled. Wachsmuth’s parenthetical reference to p. 96, line 10, is transferred here; see II.7.11d.6.

439.This difficult argument follows the printed οἰκητήριον, “dwelling place,” at both occurrences, and preserves the initial question and Heeren’s supplied εἰ, “if.” Wachsmuth records proposed δικαστήριον, “court of justice,” readings but does not adopt them in the text. Δίκην δοῦναι καὶ λαβεῖν is rendered “give and receive justice”; the expression includes being answerable to justice and obtaining redress. The moral sense of ἀστεῖον connects the argument to the following distinction between a city’s inhabitants and its physical site.

440.Σύστημα is an organized community or body of people, distinguished from the dwelling place. In the combined sense the moral description refers to the inhabitants; it does not make buildings virtuous. Wachsmuth supplies τὴν εἰς to complete “the reference to,” and records an indication of a gap after the final word. No missing continuation is invented. Source lettering next passes from 11i to 11k; no passage 11j has been omitted.

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.