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 31 · II.31.5–II.31.6

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Facing Pages · Branch 375 of 516

Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.5–II.31.6

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Ancient Greek

p. 746

Σοφοκλέους

II.31.5

Ἐπεὶ πέπρακται πᾶν τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καλῶς, χωρῶμεν ἤδη, παῖδες, ἐς τὰ τῶν σοφῶν διδασκαλεῖα μουσικῆς. παιδεύματα προσλαμβάνειν γὰρ δεῖ καθ’ ἡμέραν αἰεί, ἕως ⟨τ’⟩ ἂν ἐξῇ μανθάνειν βελτίονα. παῖς δ’ οὖν κακὸν μὲν δρᾶν τι προῖκ’ ἐπίσταται, αὐτὸς παρ’ αὑτοῦ μανθάνων ἄνευ πόνου· τὰ χρηστὰ δ’, οὐδ’ ἢν τὸν διδάσκαλον λάβῃ, ἐμνημόνευσεν, ἀλλὰ κέκτηται μόλις. ταῦτ’ οὖν φυλαξώμεσθα καὶ μοχθητέον, ὦ παῖδες, ὡς ἂν μήτ’ ἀπαιδεύτων βροτῶν δοκῶμεν εἶναι, κατοδημοῦντος πατρός * * *

Ἐμπεδοκλέους

II.31.6

Ἀλλ’ ἄγε, μύθων κλῦθι, μάθησις γὰρ φρένας αὔξει.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 747

Sophocles

II.31.5

Since all that concerns the god has been well done,¹⁰⁷³ let us go now, children, to the wise men’s schools of music. For one must always gain instruction day by day, ⟨and⟩ as long as one can, learn better things.¹⁰⁷⁴ A child, after all, knows how to do something bad at no cost, learning it from himself without toil; but good things, even if he gets a teacher, he has not kept in mind; he barely makes them his own. Let us therefore guard against this and labor, children, so that we may neither seem to be among uneducated mortals, with a father at home * * *¹⁰⁷⁵

Empedocles

II.31.6

But come, listen to my words: learning makes the mind grow.¹⁰⁷⁶

1073.The heading attributes these verses to Sophocles; Wachsmuth cites fragment 736 in Nauck’s numbering. His apparatus records Nauck’s doubts about the attribution and Meineke’s response. No play or particular dramatic speaker is named here.

1074.Μουσική can include poetic and musical education; παιδεύματα are lessons or training. Supplied ⟨τ’⟩ is marked as ⟨and⟩. The following contrast pictures bad conduct as freely acquired through self-teaching without toil, but good conduct as difficult to remember and make one’s own.

1075.The final μήτ’, neither, anticipates an unfinished paired construction. The printed κατοδημοῦντος πατρός means a father being at home or in residence. Wachsmuth marks a gap immediately afterward; its extent and the missing continuation are not supplied.

1076.Wachsmuth cites verse 74 in Stein’s numbering. Μῦθοι here are spoken words or an account; φρένες denotes the mental faculties. The verse connects listening and learning with the growth of understanding.

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.