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 8 · II.8.14–II.8.16

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English Page · Branch 283 of 516

Book II Chapter 8 · II.8.14–II.8.16

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Ancient Greek

p. 562

Ὁμήρου Ἰλιάδος

II.8.14

Μήτηρ γάρ τέ μέ φησι, θεὰ Θέτις ἀργυρόπεζα, διχθαδίας κῆρας φερέμεν θανάτοιο τέλοςδε. Εἰ μέν κ’ αὖθι μένων Τρώων πόλιν ἀμφιμάχωμαι, ὤλετο μέν μοι νόστος, ἀτὰρ κλέος ἄφθιτον ἔσται. Εἰ δέ κεν οἴκαδ’ ἵκομαι φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν, ὤλετό μοι κλέος ἐσθλόν, ἐπὶ δηρὸν δέ μοι αἰὼν ἔσσεται, οὐδέ κέ μ’ ὦκα τέλος θανάτοιο κιχείη.

Δημοσθένους ἐν τῷ ὑπὲρ τοῦ στεφάνου

II.8.15

Ὃ μὲν γὰρ ἦν ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργον ἅπασι πέπρακται· τῇ τύχῃ δ’, ἣν ὁ δαίμων ἔνειμεν ἑκάστῳ, ταύτῃ κέχρηνται.

Δημοκρίτου

II.8.16

Ἄνθρωποι Τύχης εἴδωλον ἐπλάσαντο, πρόφασιν ἰδίης ἀβουλίης. Βαιὰ γὰρ φρονήσει τύχη μάχεται, τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα ἐν βίῳ εὐξύνετος ὀξυδερκίη κατιθύνει.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 8

p. 563

Homer from the Iliad

II.8.14

For my mother, the silver-footed goddess Thetis, tells me that I carry two different fates toward my end in death. If I stay here and fight around the Trojans’ city, my homecoming is lost, but my fame will never perish. If I go home to my dear native land, my noble fame is lost, but my life will endure for a long time; the end that is death will not soon overtake me.⁷⁹⁴

Demosthenes in On the Crown

II.8.15

For what was the task of good men has been done by all; and the fortune that the divine power allotted to each is the fortune they have had.⁷⁹⁵

Democritus

II.8.16

People fashioned an image of Fortune as an excuse for their own lack of judgment. For fortune opposes practical wisdom in few things, while intelligent clear sight directs most things in life.⁷⁹⁶

794.Iliad IX.410–416. Achilles describes the alternatives reported by his mother: death at Troy with lasting fame, or return with a long life. Κῆρες are the two fates concerning his death; the alternatives are conditional. The accusative μέ is the subject of φερέμεν: Achilles carries the two fates. The English follows the seven lines as Wachsmuth prints them, including ἵκομαι in the homecoming condition, rather than substituting the wording of another Homeric edition.

795.On the Crown XVIII.208. The contrast separates the honorable task performed by the agents from the fortune allotted to each. Δαίμων here is a divine power, not a demon in the later sense. The perfects πέπρακται and κέχρηνται look back on what has been done and the fortune experienced; they do not promise control of the outcome.

796.Εἴδωλον is an image or likeness, here something people fashion to excuse ἀβουλίη, failure to deliberate well. The Ionic forms ἰδίης, ἀβουλίης, and ὀξυδερκίη remain in the Greek. The qualification few things, followed by most things, leaves a role for fortune; it is not a claim that judgment controls every event. Wachsmuth discusses a different wording of the first part transmitted through Eusebius, but the translation follows the text printed here.

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.