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.31.67–II.31.69

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Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.67–II.31.69

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Ancient Greek

p. 812

Μητροδώρου

II.31.67

Νέος ἐν πολυτελέσι βρώμασι καὶ ποτοῖς ἔτι δὲ ἀφροδισίοις ἀναστρεφόμενος λέληθεν ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῷ θέρει τὴν χλαῖναν κατατρίβων.

Ἀντισθένους

II.31.68

Δεῖ τοὺς μέλλοντας ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας γενήσεσθαι τὸ μὲν σῶμα γυμνασίοις ἀσκεῖν, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν παιδεύσει.

Δημοσθένης Φιλιππικῶν

II.31.69

Ἔστι δὲ οὐδέποτ’, οἶμαι, δυνατὸν μικρὰ καὶ φαῦλα πράττοντας μέγα καὶ νεανικὸν φρόνημα λαβεῖν, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ λαμπρὰ καὶ καλὰ πράττοντας μικρὸν καὶ ταπεινὸν φρονεῖν. Ὁποῖα γὰρ ἂν τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ᾖ, τοιοῦτον ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ φρόνημα ἔχειν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 813

Metrodorus

II.31.67

A young man who lives amid lavish food and drink, and sexual pleasures besides, does not realize that he is wearing out his cloak in summer.¹¹⁸⁶

Antisthenes

II.31.68

Those who are to become good men must train their bodies through exercise and their souls through education.¹¹⁸⁷

Demosthenes, from the Philippics

II.31.69

Yet I think it is never possible to acquire a great and vigorous spirit while doing petty and base things, just as one cannot think in a petty and servile way while doing splendid and noble things.¹¹⁸⁸ For whatever people’s pursuits may be, their spirit must correspond.¹¹⁸⁹

1186.Χλαῖνα is a substantial cloak. Wearing it out in summer suggests using up a resource before the season when it will be needed. Applied to the young man’s pleasures, the image may suggest squandering his strength or means; the saying does not explicitly identify what the cloak represents.

1187.The dative παιδεύσει, through education, balances γυμνασίοις, through exercise. Both body and soul fall under ἀσκεῖν, to train or cultivate. The saying gives bodily exercise and education parallel roles in preparing a person to become good.

1188.The heading places the passage under Philippics. It also survives at Demosthenes 13.25, in the speech Περὶ συντάξεως, On Organization, where the speaker contrasts the Athenians’ present conduct with that of their ancestors. The local anthology wording governs the translation.

1189.Φρόνημα is one’s spirit, outlook or cast of mind; νεανικόν adds youthful vigor or boldness. The conclusion links this outlook to ἐπιτηδεύματα, pursuits or habitual practices. The English retains both the speaker’s I think and the necessary correspondence expressed by ἀνάγκη.

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.