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.31.26–II.31.27

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Facing Pages · Branch 390 of 516

Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.26–II.31.27

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Ancient Greek

p. 776

Πλάτωνος Νόμων ζʹ

II.31.26

Ἀγνοεῖται παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσιν ὀλίγου. — Τὸ ποῖον; — Ὡς τὰ δεξιὰ καὶ τὰ ἀριστερὰ διαφέροντά ἐστιν ἡμῶν φύσει πρὸς τὰς χρείας εἰς ἑκάστας τῶν πράξεων τὰ περὶ τὰς χεῖρας· ἐπεὶ τὰ γε περὶ πόδας τε καὶ ⟨τὰ⟩ κάτω τῶν μελῶν, οὐδὲν διαφέροντα εἰς τοὺς πόνους φαίνεται· τὰ δὲ κατὰ χεῖρας ἀνοίᾳ τροφῶν καὶ μητέρων οἷον χωλοὶ γεγόναμεν ἕκαστοι. τῆς φύσεως γὰρ ἑκατέρων τῶν μελῶν σχεδὸν ἰσορροπούσης, αὐτοὶ διὰ τὰ ἔθη διάφορα αὐτὰ πεποιήκαμεν οὐκ ὀρθῶς χρώμενοι.

Κράντωρ

II.31.27

Κράντωρ ἔλεγε μήτε δύνασθαί τινα τὰ μεγάλα πρὸ τῶν μικρῶν μυηθῆναι, μήτ’ ἂν ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἐλθεῖν πρὶν ἐν τοῖς ἐγκυκλίοις διαπονηθῆναι.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 777

Plato, from Laws, Book 7

II.31.26

Almost everyone is mistaken about something. — What is that? — The belief that our right and left sides, in the use of our hands for each task, differ by nature.¹¹²³ For the feet and ⟨the⟩ lower limbs show no difference in their capacity for exertion; but as for our hands, through the folly of nurses and mothers we have each become, as it were, lame.¹¹²⁴ For although nature leaves the limbs on either side almost evenly balanced, we ourselves, through habits and improper use, have made them different.¹¹²⁵

Crantor

II.31.27

Crantor used to say that no one could be initiated into the greater mysteries before the lesser, nor could one come to philosophy before working through the general course of studies.¹¹²⁶

1123.Laws 7, 794D–E. The dialogue’s question interrupts the Athenian Stranger’s argument about bodily training. The Greek opening means that almost everyone is in error; the following that-clause states the mistaken assumption, not the speaker’s conclusion. The English makes this connection explicit with the belief. Χρείας means uses or practical needs, while χεῖρας means hands.

1124.The supplied article ⟨τὰ⟩ before lower is represented by ⟨the⟩. The comparison with feet leads to the image of being lame in one’s use of the hands: the criticism concerns training one side at the expense of the other. The qualification as it were preserves οἷον.

1125.The final explanation opposes nature’s nearly even balance to differences produced by habitual, improper use. Σχεδόν means almost or nearly; the sentence does not assert absolute identity. Its subject is the formation of bodily capacities through upbringing and practice.

1126.Crantor compares advancement in education with progression through lesser and greater initiations. Τὰ ἐγκύκλια are the general or preparatory studies that precede philosophy here; the excerpt supplies no fixed list of subjects. Διαπονηθῆναι conveys sustained work, rather than mere exposure to those studies. The analogy gives an order of preparation, not a description of a particular initiation ceremony.

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.