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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

Stobaeus, Volume II

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

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Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 31 · II.31.123.5

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 462 of 516

Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.123.5

Ancient Greek

p. 920

Μουσωνίου — συνέχεια

II.31.123.5

Τί οὖν καὶ ταλασίαν, φησί τις ἴσως, ἀξιοῖς σὺ παραπλησίως ἐκμανθάνειν ταῖς γυναιξὶν τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ γυμναστικὴν μετέρχεσθαι τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ὁμοίως τὰς γυναῖκας; Τοῦτο μὲν οὐκέτι ἀξιώσω ἐγώ· φημὶ δὲ ὅτι οὔσης ἐν τῷ γένει ⟨τῷ⟩ ἀνθρωπίνῳ τῆς μὲν ἰσχυροτέρας φύσεως τῆς τῶν ἀρρένων, τῆς δ’ ἀσθενεστέρας τῆς τῶν θηλειῶν, ἑκατέρᾳ φύσει τῶν ἔργων ἀπονεμητέον τὰ προσφορώτατα καὶ τὰ μὲν βαρύτερα τοῖς ἰσχυροτέροις ἀποδοτέον, τὰ δὲ ἐλαφρότερα τοῖς ἀσθενεστέροις· διὰ τοῦτο ταλασία μὲν ταῖς γυναιξὶ μᾶλλον πρέποι ἂν ἤπερ ἀνδράσιν, ὥσπερ ⟨καὶ⟩ οἰκουρία· γυμναστικὴ δὲ ἀνδράσι μᾶλλον ἢ γυναιξίν, ὥσπερ καὶ θυραυλία· ἐνίοτε μέντοι καὶ ἄνδρες τινὲς τῶν ἐλαφροτέρων ἔργων ἔνια καὶ δοκούντων γυναικείων μεταχειρίσαιντ’ ἂν εἰκότως, καὶ γυναῖκες αὖ τῶν σκληροτέρων καὶ δοκούντων μᾶλλον προσήκειν ἀνδράσιν ἐργάσαιντ’ ἂν, ὅταν ἢ τὰ τοῦ σώματος οὕτως ὑφηγήται ἢ τὰ τῆς χρείας ἢ τὰ τοῦ καιροῦ.

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Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 921

Musonius continued

II.31.123.5

“Then do you also expect men to learn to spin wool in the same way as women, and women to pursue physical training in the same way as men?” someone may perhaps say.1346 I shall not go that far. I say that, since within the human race the nature of males is stronger and that of females weaker, the most suitable tasks should be assigned to each nature: heavier tasks to the stronger and lighter ones to the weaker. That is why spinning would be more fitting for women than for men, as would ⟨also⟩ staying at home; physical training would be more fitting for men than for women, as would life out of doors.1347 Sometimes, however, some men might reasonably undertake some lighter tasks considered women’s work, and women in turn might perform some harder tasks considered more fitting for men, whenever bodily condition, need or circumstances so direct.1348

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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.