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 15 · II.15.10–II.15.12

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Book II Chapter 15 · II.15.10–II.15.12

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Ancient Greek

p. 694

Φιλήμονος Ἀδελφοῖς

II.15.10

Οὐκ ἂν λαλῇ τις μικρόν, ἐστὶ κόσμιος, οὐδ’ ἂν πορεύηταί τις εἰς τὴν γῆν βλέπων· ὁ δ’ ἡλίκον μὲν ἡ φύσις φέρει λαλῶν, μηθὲν ποιῶν δ’ ἄσχημον, οὗτος κόσμιος.

Εὐριπίδου Φοίνικι

II.15.11

⟨Οἱ⟩ πεῖραν οὐ δεδωκότες μᾶλλον δοκοῦντες ἢ πεφυκότες σοφοί.

Εὐριπίδου Ἀντιόπῃ

II.15.12

Ὃς δ’ εὐγλωσσίᾳ νικᾷ, σοφὸς μέν, ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ τὰ πράγματα κρείττω νομίζω τῶν λόγων ἀεί ποτε.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 15

p. 695

Philemon, from Brothers

II.15.10

A man is not well behaved simply because he speaks little, nor because he goes about looking at the ground; but one who speaks as much as his nature permits and does nothing unseemly—that man is well behaved.⁹⁸⁴

Euripides, from Phoenix

II.15.11

⟨Those⟩ who have given no proof of themselves, seeming wise rather than being so by nature.⁹⁸⁵

Euripides, from Antiope

II.15.12

Whoever wins by eloquence is clever, certainly; but I always hold deeds better than words.⁹⁸⁶

984.Κόσμιος means orderly or decorous in conduct. Speaking little or looking down does not by itself establish good character; the final line tests the person by what he does. The fragment is assigned to Philemon’s Brothers.

985.The supplied ⟨Οἱ⟩ means those who; the negative οὐ is already present in the transmitted verse. Πεῖραν διδόναι means to submit to a test or give proof of oneself. The surviving fragment contrasts a reputation for wisdom with wisdom established in fact. Phoenix is the lost play named in the heading.

986.Εὐγλωσσία is fluency or eloquence; σοφός here concedes the successful speaker’s cleverness. The speaker then ranks πράγματα, actual deeds or matters accomplished, above λόγοι, words. The fragment comes from Euripides’s lost Antiope; its speaker is not named in this excerpt.

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.