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.31.28–II.31.30

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Facing Pages · Branch 391 of 516

Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.28–II.31.30

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Ancient Greek

p. 778

Ἀρκεσίλαος

II.31.28

Ἀρκεσίλαος ὁρῶν τινα νεανίσκον φιλοσόφων λόγων κατακούοντα πρὶν παιδευθῆναι, οὐδὲ τοὺς τῆς Δήμητρος, ἔφη, καρποὺς καλλίστους καὶ τροφιμωτάτους ὄντας εὐθὺς ἐκ γενετῆς τοῖς παισὶν ἁρμόζειν, τὸ δὲ γάλα τῶν τιτθῶν.

Δημοσθένης

II.31.29

Δημοσθένης ὁ ῥήτωρ ἔφη τὴν μὲν ῥίζαν τῆς παιδείας εἶναι πικράν, τοὺς δὲ καρποὺς γλυκεῖς.

Ἀριστοτέλης

II.31.30

Ἀριστοτέλης ὁ Περιπατητικὸς ἐρωτηθεὶς ὑπό τινος, τί μάλιστα δεῖ ἀσκεῖν τοὺς νέους, εἶπε· «παιδείαν».

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 779

Arcesilaus

II.31.28

Arcesilaus, seeing a certain young man listening to philosophical discussions before receiving an education, said that not even Demeter’s crops, though finest and most nourishing, suit children straight from birth;¹¹²⁷ their nurses’ milk does.¹¹²⁸

Demosthenes

II.31.29

Demosthenes the orator said that the root of education is bitter, but its fruits are sweet.¹¹²⁹

Aristotle

II.31.30

When someone asked Aristotle the Peripatetic what young men should practice most of all, he said, “Education.”¹¹³⁰

1127.Demeter’s crops are the grain that provides mature nourishment, contrasted with a newborn’s milk. The analogy concerns the learner’s readiness: the value of philosophical discussion does not make it suitable before preparation. The anecdote names no particular preliminary curriculum.

1128.The printed οὐδὲ, not even, is retained. Halm proposed οὐ δεῖ, one should not, which would change the construction; that conjecture is not substituted here. Τιτθαί are nursing women or wet nurses. Arcesilaus’s name occurs within the anecdote; the separate label above is editorial.

1129.Stobaeus explicitly names Demosthenes the orator. Diogenes Laertius 5.18 attributes a similar saying to Aristotle, with plural roots and singular fruit. The translation keeps this excerpt’s attribution, singular root, and plural fruits; the botanical image contrasts education’s initial difficulty with its benefits.

1130.Ἀσκεῖν means to practice or train: the answer presents education as an activity to be cultivated. Παιδεία includes intellectual and character formation, without specifying a subject here. The identification the Peripatetic belongs to the anecdote itself; Aristotle’s separate label above is editorial, as is Demosthenes’s label in the preceding unit.

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.