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.7.13.13–II.7.13.14

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.13.13–II.7.13.14

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Ancient Greek

p. 398

Βοήθεια πρὸς τοὺς πλησίον

II.7.13.13

Καὶ γὰρ δὴ πάντας τοὺς σῴζοντας οὕτως ἔχειν πρὸς τοὺς πλησίον, ὥστε μὴ πρὸς ἀξίαν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ δι’ αὑθ’ αἱρετὸν τὰ πλεῖστα δρᾶν. Τίνα γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἐξελέσθαι θεασάμενον ἄνθρωπον ὑπὸ θηρίου καταδυναστευόμενον, εἰ δύναιτο; τίνα δ’ οὐκ ἂν ὁδὸν πλανωμένῳ μηνύσειν; τίνα δ’ οὐκ ⟨ἂν⟩ ἐπαρκέσειν ὑπ’ ἐνδείας ἀπολλυμένῳ; τίνα δ’ οὐκ ἂν ἐπ’ ἐρημίας ἀνύδρου νάματι περιτυχόντα γνωρίσμασι διαδηλώσειν τοῖς τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν βαδίζουσι;

Φωναὶ παρὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν

II.7.13.14

Τίνα δ’ οὐ τῆς μετὰ τὸν βίον εὐφημίας πολὺν ποιεῖσθαι λόγον; τίνα δ’ οὐκ ἀποστυγεῖν τὰς τοιαύτας φωνάς, ὡς παρὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην οὔσας φύσιν,

Ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί· Οὐδέν μέλει μοι, τἀμὰ γὰρ καλῶς ἔχει.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 399

Helping Others

II.7.13.13

For all who save others are disposed toward their neighbors in such a way that they do most things not according to worth, but on the basis of what is choiceworthy for its own sake.⁵³² Who, seeing a human being overpowered by a wild beast, would not rescue him if he could? Who would not show the way to someone lost? Who ⟨would⟩ not assist someone perishing from want? Who, coming upon a spring in a waterless desert, would not mark it with signs for those traveling the same road?⁵³³

Sayings Contrary to Human Nature

II.7.13.14

Who does not care greatly for a good name after his life is over? Who does not loathe such sayings as these, as contrary to human nature:

When I am dead, let earth be mingled with fire. Nothing concerns me, for my own affairs are well.⁵³⁴

532.Σῴζοντας is taken transitively as “who save others,” with the following examples specifying rescue and help. Πρὸς ἀξίαν is rendered “according to worth,” understood here as assessment of the recipient’s worth or desert. The precise force of the contrast is compressed. Wachsmuth prints this correction of the transmitted τὰς πράξεις, “the actions,” and records other proposals; the printed wording is retained.

533.The questions appeal to ordinary acts of assistance. The condition “if he could” is explicit in the first example, and the signs make a discovered water source known to later travelers. Wachsmuth supplies ἄν in the third question, expressed by the bracketed “would.” The argument concerns help valued beyond expected usefulness to the helper; it does not require prior personal friendship with the person helped.

534.The two verse quotations are printed as anonymous tragic fragments, Nauck, fragmenta tragica adespota 430.1–2; their author and dramatic setting are not supplied here. They are examples rejected by the argument, not maxims endorsed by the epitome’s speaker. The preceding concern for posthumous good report continues the appeal to interests extending beyond one’s present advantage. The source’s references are transferred to this note rather than inserted into the verse.

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.