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.7.11m.3–II.7.11m.4

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Facing Pages · Branch 178 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11m.3–II.7.11m.4

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Ancient Greek

p. 352

Ἡ ὁμιλία τοῦ σπουδαίου

II.7.11m.3

Τὸν δὲ σπουδαῖον, ὁμιλητικὸν ὄντα καὶ ἐπιδέξιον καὶ προτρεπτικὸν καὶ θηρευτικὸν διὰ τῆς ὁμιλίας εἰς εὔνοιαν καὶ φιλίαν, ὡς δυνατὸν εὐάρμοστον εἶναι πρὸς πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων, παρ’ ὃ καὶ ἐπαφρόδιτον εἶναι καὶ ἐπίχαριν καὶ πιθανόν, ἔτι δὲ αἱμύλον καὶ εὔστοχον καὶ εὔκαιρον καὶ ἀγχίνουν καὶ ἀφελῆ καὶ ἀπερίεργον καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἄπλαστον· τὸν δὲ φαῦλον ἔνοχον πᾶσι τοῖς ἐναντίοις.

Εἰρωνεία καὶ σαρκασμός

II.7.11m.4

Τὸ δ’ εἰρωνεύεσθαι φαύλων εἶναί φασιν, οὐδένα γὰρ ἐλεύθερον καὶ σπουδαῖον εἰρωνεύεσθαι· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸ σαρκάζειν, ὅ ἐστιν εἰρωνεύεσθαι μετ’ ἐπισυρμοῦ τινος.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 353

The Virtuous Person in Company

II.7.11m.3

The virtuous person, being sociable and tactful, able to exhort others and to win goodwill and friendship through his company, is as adaptable as possible to a multitude of people.⁴⁶⁷ Hence he is also charming, gracious, and persuasive; further, he is winning, apt, timely, quick witted, straightforward, free from meddlesomeness, simple, and unfeigned. The base person is subject to all the contrary qualities.⁴⁶⁸

Dissembling and Sarcasm

II.7.11m.4

They say that dissembling belongs to base people, for no free and virtuous person dissembles. The same holds of sarcasm, which is dissembling accompanied by a measure of ridicule.⁴⁶⁹

467.Ὁμιλία is social intercourse or company. Θηρευτικός literally evokes hunting, here directed toward winning goodwill and friendship. The qualification ὡς δυνατόν, “as far as possible,” limits the claim about adaptability; it has not been turned into unlimited accommodation to others.

468.The succession of adjectives is retained rather than reduced to a general description of pleasantness. Αἱμύλος can have an unfavorable sense of wily or flattering, but here stands among the virtuous person’s qualities and is rendered “winning.” Εὔστοχος concerns hitting the mark, εὔκαιρος the right occasion, and ἄπλαστος being unfeigned.

469.Εἰρωνεύεσθαι here is dissembling or adopting a false pose, rather than every use of what modern English calls irony. Σαρκάζειν adds ἐπισυρμός, ridicule or mockery. The definition concerns a mode of treating others and should be read alongside the account of unfeigned company.

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.