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.7.26.14–II.7.26.16

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Facing Pages · Branch 273 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.26.14–II.7.26.16

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Ancient Greek

p. 542

Ἐπιλογὴ τῶν ἀρχόντων

II.7.26.14

Ἄρχειν δὲ καὶ βουλεύειν καὶ δικάζειν ἐν μὲν ταῖς δημοκρατίαις ἐκ πάντων, ἢ αἱρέσει ἢ κλήρῳ· ἐν δὲ ταῖς ὀλιγαρχίαις ἐκ τῶν εὐπόρων· ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἀριστοκρατίαις ἐκ τῶν ἀρίστων.

Αἰτίαι τῶν στάσεων

II.7.26.15

Στάσεις δ’ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι γίνεσθαι τὰς μὲν κατὰ λόγον, τὰς δὲ κατὰ πάθος. Κατὰ λόγον μέν, ὅταν οἱ ἴσοι ὄντες ⟨ἄνισα, οἱ δὲ ἄνισοι ὄντες⟩ ἴσα ἔχειν ἀναγκάζωνται· κατὰ πάθος δὲ διὰ τιμὴν ἢ φιλαρχίαν ἢ κέρδος ἢ εὐπορίαν.

Κατάλυσις καὶ μονιμότης

II.7.26.16

Καταλύεσθαι δὲ τὰς πολιτείας διὰ δύο αἰτίας, ἢ βίᾳ ἢ ἀπάτῃ. Μονιμωτέρας δὲ γίνεσθαι τοῦ κοινῇ συμφέροντος ἐπιμελουμένας.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 543

The Selection of Officeholders

II.7.26.14

Those who rule, deliberate, and judge are drawn, in democracies, from all, either by election or by lot;⁷⁵⁸ in oligarchies, from the wealthy; and in aristocracies, from the best.⁷⁵⁹

The Causes of Civil Strife

II.7.26.15

Civil strife in cities arises in some cases from reason, and in others from passion. From reason, when those who are equal are compelled to have ⟨unequal shares, and those who are unequal⟩ equal shares;⁷⁶⁰ from passion, on account of honor, love of rule, gain, or wealth.⁷⁶¹

Overthrow and Stability

II.7.26.16

Constitutions are overthrown through two causes, either force or deception. They become more stable by attending to the common advantage.⁷⁶²

758.The compressed Greek supplies the people performing all three functions. Αἵρεσις is election or selection, and κλῆρος selection by lot. The alternatives concern appointment to political functions; lot does not mean fate here.

759.From all must be read within the account’s category of eligible citizens, not as a statement of modern universal suffrage. Εὔποροι are those with abundant means, while ἄριστοι are the best as judged by the aristocratic criterion. All three forms retain their different stated bases of selection.

760.Στάσις is faction or civil strife. The distinction κατὰ λόγον and κατὰ πάθος identifies the grounds assigned to it: a claim about equality, or an affective motive. The full supplied contrast between unequal shares and unequal people remains bracketed. Shares expresses the objects of ἔχειν, to have, in the equality argument.

761.All four motives remain: τιμή, honor; φιλαρχία, love of rule or office; κέρδος, gain; and εὐπορία, wealth or affluence. The printed φιλαρχία is not replaced with an apparatus proposal referring to love of money. Passion here names the motivating attachment, not a separate fifth motive.

762.Πολιτεῖαι remain constitutions or forms of government. Μονιμωτέρας is comparative, more stable, rather than a promise that any constitution will become permanent. Attention to common advantage repeats the criterion used to distinguish correct government from deviation.

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.