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.31.88–II.31.90

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Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.88–II.31.90

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Ancient Greek

p. 830

Μόνιμος ὁ Κυνικὸς φιλόσοφος

II.31.88

Μόνιμος ὁ Κυνικὸς φιλόσοφος ἔφη, κρεῖττον εἶναι τυφλὸν ⟨εἶναι⟩ ἢ ἀπαίδευτον· τὸν μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸν βόθρον, τὸν δὲ εἰς τὸ βάραθρον ἐμπίπτειν.

Ἐκ τῶν Δίωνος Χρειῶν

II.31.89

Ἀθηναίοις ἐρομένοις, ὅπως λῷον ⟨ἂν⟩ αὐτοῖς γίγνοιτο, ἔχρησεν ἡ Πυθία· εἰ τὸ κάλλιστον εἰς τὸ δεξιὸν οὖς τῶν παίδων ἐντιθέναι βούλοιντο· οἱ δὲ τρήσαντες αὐτὸ χρυσίον ἐνέβαλον, ἀγνοήσαντες, ὅτι τὸν φιλόσοφον λόγον ἐμήνυσε.

Δημοκρίτου

II.31.90

Φαύλων ὁμιλίη ξυνεχὴς ἕξιν κακίης συναέξει.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 831

Monimus the Cynic philosopher

II.31.88

Monimus the Cynic philosopher said that it is better to ⟨be⟩ blind than uneducated: the former falls into a pit, the latter into an abyss.¹²¹²

From Dio’s Anecdotes

II.31.89

When the Athenians asked how things ⟨might⟩ go better for them, the Pythia replied that they would if the Athenians were willing to put the finest thing into their children’s right ear.¹²¹³ They pierced the ear and put in gold, not realizing that she meant philosophical discourse.¹²¹⁴

Democritus

II.31.90

Continual association with bad people will increase a disposition toward vice.¹²¹⁵

1212.The supplied εἶναι, be, is marked in both languages. The first εἶναι in Greek belongs to the indirect statement that it is better; the supplied second infinitive belongs to being blind. Βόθρος, pit, and βάραθρον, abyss or chasm, are deliberately different words, making the second fall the more severe image.

1213.Χρεῖαι are brief instructive anecdotes or sayings. The heading names Dio without further identification. The supplied ἂν marks the potential question and is represented by the marked might. The English makes explicit the reply’s implied reference to things going better, while retaining its condition, if they were willing.

1214.The anecdote turns on taking the finest thing as a material object rather than something heard and learned. Λόγος here is discourse or speech, qualified as philosophical. The text names the Pythia but gives no further setting for the oracle.

1215.The Ionic forms ὁμιλίη and κακίης, and the printed ξυνεχὴς and συναέξει, are retained. Ἕξις is a disposition or settled habit; the future συναέξει describes its increase through continued association.

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.