Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

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.31.70–II.31.73

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Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.70–II.31.73

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Ancient Greek

p. 814

Ξενοφῶντος

II.31.70

Κράτιστον μέν ἐστι παρὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως τὸ ἀγαθὸν διδάσκεσθαι· δεύτερον δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἀληθῶς ἀγαθῶν.

Δημοκρίτου

II.31.71

Οὔτε τέχνη οὔτε σοφίη ἐφικτόν, ἢν μὴ μάθῃ τις.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ

II.31.72

Ἔστι κου νέων ξύνεσις καὶ γερόντων ἀξυνεσίη· χρόνος γὰρ οὐ διδάσκει φρονέειν, ἀλλ’ ὡραίῃ τροφῇ καὶ φύσις.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ

II.31.73

Ὁ ἀντιλογεόμενος καὶ πολλὰ λεσχηνευόμενος ἀφυὴς ἐς μάθησιν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 815

Xenophon

II.31.70

It is best to learn what is good from one’s own nature, and second best from those who are truly good.¹¹⁹⁰

Democritus

II.31.71

Neither skill nor wisdom is attainable unless one learns.¹¹⁹¹

Democritus: From the same author

II.31.72

Understanding is, I suppose, found among the young, and lack of it among the old. For time does not teach sound judgment, but upbringing at the proper time and nature do.¹¹⁹²

Democritus: From the same author

II.31.73

Someone who contradicts and indulges in much idle talk is naturally ill suited to learning.¹¹⁹³

1190.On Hunting 13.4. The local wording is retained: the second source of learning is the truly good. The separate Xenophon text refers instead to those who truly know something good; its longer expression is not inserted here.

1191.Τέχνη is art, craft, or skilled practice; σοφίη is the Ionic form of wisdom. The English follows the printed Democritus heading. Wachsmuth’s apparatus records the alternative name Democrates; it is not substituted for the local attribution.

1192.I suppose renders Ionic κου. The closing ὡραίῃ τροφῇ, upbringing at the proper time, is dative, whereas φύσις, nature, is nominative. The English gives the apparent contrast, treating them as coordinated sources of judgment, while the local grammar is imperfect. Neither its order nor its wording is replaced by the parallel’s nature and right way of life.

1193.Λεσχηνευόμενος denotes talk or chatter, here paired with contradicting. Ἀφυής concerns a lack of natural aptitude; the saying does not express an absolute impossibility of learning. No particular teacher, opponent, or occasion is identified.

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.