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.15.13

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Book II Chapter 15 · II.15.13

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Ancient Greek

p. 696

Εὐριπίδου

II.15.13

⟨Οὐ⟩ μὴ φρονήσεθ’, οἳ κενῶν δοξασμάτων πλήρεις πλανᾶσθε, τῇ δ’ ὁμιλίᾳ βροτοὺς κρινεῖτε καὶ τοῖς ἤθεσιν τοὺς εὐγενεῖς; οἱ γὰρ τοιοίδε τὰς πόλεις οἰκοῦσιν εὖ καὶ δώμαθ’, αἱ δὲ σάρκες αἱ κεναὶ φρενῶν ἀγάλματ’ ἀγορᾶς εἰσιν. οὐδὲ γὰρ δόρυ μᾶλλον βραχίων σθεναρὸς ἀσθενοῦς μένει· ἐν τῇ φύσει δὲ τοῦτο κἀν εὐψυχίᾳ.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 15

p. 697

Euripides, from Electra

II.15.13

Will you ⟨not⟩ think sensibly, you who wander⁹⁸⁷ full of empty notions, and judge which mortals are noble by dealings with them and by their character?⁹⁸⁸ For people of this sort manage cities well and households; flesh empty of sense is an ornament of the marketplace. For a strong arm withstands a spear no better than a weak one; this lies in natural character and courage.⁹⁸⁹

987.The opening is rendered tentatively. Wachsmuth prints supplied ⟨Οὐ⟩ followed by μή and the positive φρονήσεθ’, think sensibly; the two negatives do not fit the expected exhortation cleanly. Murray’s separate edition of Electra prints ἀφρονήσεθ’, act foolishly, yielding an appeal to stop being foolish. That reading is not substituted for the local Greek; the English gives the apparent direction of the appeal while acknowledging its difficult wording.

988.Euripides, Electra 383–390. Orestes speaks after the poor farmer’s welcome has shown him the man’s worth. He urges judgment through personal dealings, ὁμιλία, and character, ἤθη, rather than the conventional signs of noble birth or status. The local anthology wording is retained where the play’s separate text differs.

989.The contrast is between bodily strength and the character or courage needed to stand firm. Μένει takes δόρυ as its object: the arm withstands a spear, rather than holds one. Κἀν contracts καὶ ἐν, and in; it is not a conditional expression.

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.