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.31.110l–II.31.110n

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 433 of 516

Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.110l–II.31.110n

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Ancient Greek

p. 862

⟨Νόμων αʹ⟩

II.31.110l

Λέγω δὴ καὶ φημι τὸν ὁτιοῦν ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα μέλλοντα ἔσεσθαι, τοῦτο αὐτὸ ἐκ παίδων εὐθὺς μελετᾶν δεῖν παίζοντά τε καὶ σπουδάζοντα ἐν τοῖς τοῦ πράγματος ἑκάστοις προσήκουσι.

Πολιτείας ζʹ

II.31.110m

Σόλωνι γὰρ οὐ πειστέον, ὡς γηράσκων τις πολλὰ δυνατὸς μανθάνειν, ἀλλ’ ἧττον ἢ τρέχειν, νέων δὲ πάντες οἱ μεγάλοι καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ πόνοι.

⟨Ἐν ταὐτῷ⟩

II.31.110n

Ἀρχὴ παντὸς ἔργου μέγιστον, ἄλλως τε δὴ καὶ νέῳ καὶ ἁπαλῷ ὁτῳοῦν· μάλιστα γὰρ δὴ τότε πλάττεται καὶ ἐνδύεται τύπος, ὃν ἄν τις βούληται ἐνσημήνασθαι ἑκάστῳ.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 863

⟨Laws I⟩

II.31.110l

I say and maintain that anyone who is going to be good at anything must practice that very thing right from childhood, both in play and in earnest, in the particulars appropriate to the task.¹²⁶³

Republic VII

II.31.110m

For we must not believe Solon that one can learn many things as one grows old; one is less able to do so than to run. Great and numerous labors are all for the young.¹²⁶⁴

⟨In the same work⟩

II.31.110n

The beginning is the greatest part of any work, especially with anything young and tender. For then, above all, molding takes place and a pattern is impressed—whatever one wishes to stamp on each individual.¹²⁶⁵

1263.Laws I.643B. The supplied work-and-book heading continues Plato. With ὁτιοῦν, anything, ἀγαθός concerns being good at a pursuit; it is not restricted here to moral virtue. Παίζοντα and σπουδάζοντα join play with serious application. The excerpt does not specify particular crafts or exercises.

1264.Republic VII.536D. The work-and-book heading continues Plato. The view attributed to Solon is reported indirectly, rather than as a separate verse quotation. The comparative with running is retained; πολλοί describes numerous labors. This is the excerpt’s claim about age and effort, not a general editorial judgment about older learners.

1265.Republic II.377A–B. The same-work heading is supplied; it does not repeat the preceding excerpt’s book number. Πλάττεται and ἐνσημήνασθαι evoke molding and stamping soft material. Τύπος is the pattern or impression imparted to each individual. The image emphasizes the formative importance of beginnings.

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.