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.7.24.3–II.7.24.4

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Facing Pages · Branch 254 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.24.3–II.7.24.4

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Ancient Greek

p. 504

Θεωρία καὶ τὸ κοινωνικόν

II.7.24.3

Κωλυόμενον δὲ περὶ ἄμφω γίνεσθαι διὰ καιρούς, θατέρῳ χρήσεσθαι, προτιμῶντα μὲν τὸν θεωρητικὸν βίον, διὰ δὲ τὸ κοινωνικὸν ἐπὶ τὰς πολιτικὰς ὁρμῶντα πράξεις.

Γάμος ἔρως καὶ συμπεριφορά

II.7.24.4

Δι’ ὃ καὶ γαμήσειν καὶ παιδοποιήσεσθαι καὶ πολιτεύσεσθαι καὶ ἐρασθήσεσθαι τὸν σώφρονα ἔρωτα καὶ μεθυσθήσεσθαι κατὰ συμπεριφοράς, κἂν εἰ μὴ προηγουμένως.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 505

Contemplation and Sociability

II.7.24.3

If circumstances prevent him from engaging in both, he will follow one or the other, preferring the contemplative life but turning toward political actions because of his sociability.⁶⁸³

Marriage Love and Accommodation to Others

II.7.24.4

Thus he will also marry, have children, take part in public life, fall in love temperately,⁶⁸⁴ and become drunk as an accommodation to others, even if not as a primary aim.⁶⁸⁵

683.Θατέρῳ permits either one of the two activities. The preference for contemplation remains alongside the impulse toward political action, which is grounded in τὸ κοινωνικόν, sociability or one’s social nature. The clause does not say that contemplation is the only virtuous activity. The later statement about public life as a primary choice is also retained; see II.7.24.7.

684.All five activities remain in the translation. The love is expressly qualified: τὸν σώφρονα ἔρωτα, literally the self-controlled or temperate love. The text does not give an unqualified endorsement of every kind of erotic attachment; compare its distinctions among kinds of love in II.7.21.3.

685.Μεθυσθήσεσθαι is to become drunk, not simply to drink wine. Κατὰ συμπεριφοράς is understood in the sense of accommodation or compliance with others; it explains the social occasion without specifying particular companions or amounts. The printed plural is retained; Wachsmuth queries a singular form in his apparatus. Κἂν εἰ μὴ προηγουμένως preserves the qualification even if not as a primary aim, rather than making drunkenness an end pursued for its own sake.

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.