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.31.124.1–II.31.124.2

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English Page · Branch 466 of 516

Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.124.1–II.31.124.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 928

Θεοφράστου

II.31.124.1

Δοκεῖ γὰρ ἡ παιδεία, καὶ τοῦτο πάντες ὁμολογοῦσιν, ἡμεροῦν τὰς ψυχάς, ἀφαιροῦσα τὸ θηριῶδες καὶ ἄγνωμον, ὅθεν καὶ τὰ ἤθη κοινότερα καὶ ὑγρότερα γίνεται. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ πολλοῖς οὐκ ἄν τις ἴσως ἐπιτιμῴη διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν . . .· ὅσοι δὲ τραφέντες ἐλευθερίως καὶ χορηγίαν ἔχοντες ἱκανὴν ὥστ’ εἰς ὁποιονοῦν βίον ἐλθεῖν, ἄσκεπτοι περὶ τοῦ ἀρίστου τυγχάνουσι, τούτοις ἤδη δίκαιον ἐγκαλεῖν.

Θεοφράστου — συνέχεια

II.31.124.2

Ἄτοπον γὰρ ὥστ’ ἀληθῶς, εἰ αἱρέσεως αὐτοῖς διδομένης πόλιν μὲν ἂν ἕλοιντο τὴν ἐνδοξοτάτην καὶ φίλους καὶ οἰκείους τοὺς ἀρίστους, βίον δὲ ἐξὸν ἑλέσθαι τὸν ἄριστον, κατολιγωρήσαντες τούτου, πρὸς τὸ τυχὸν τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἀποδιδοίησαν, μηδὲ εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ κρίνειν καὶ σκοπεῖν ἐλθόντες. Ἀλλ’ ὁδὸν μὲν βαδίζειν εἰ δέοι, ἄλλων πύθοιντ’ ἂν πολλάκις καὶ ἀναζητήσαιεν ἡγεμόνα μεθ’ οὗ ποιήσαιντο τὴν κομιδὴν ἀσφαλῶς, ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ βίου παντὸς, τὸ λεγόμενον δὴ τοῦτο, κυβεύοντες, οὐδενὶ κοινωσάμενοι πρὸς τὸν χείριστον, ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ, προσπίπτουσι.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31

p. 929

Theophrastus

II.31.124.1

For education seems—and everyone agrees on this—to tame souls, removing what is beastlike and unreasoning; hence characters become more sociable and pliant.¹³⁵⁸ As for the many, one might perhaps not blame them, because they lack the freedom . . .¹³⁵⁹ But those with a liberal upbringing and adequate resources to enter any way of life, who nonetheless give no thought to the best one, may then justly be called to account.¹³⁶⁰

Theophrastus continued

II.31.124.2

For it is truly absurd if, given a choice, they would choose the most renowned city and the best friends and intimates, yet, when free to choose the best life, would disregard it and hand their affairs over to whatever happens, without even beginning to judge and examine.¹³⁶¹ Yet if they had to travel a road, they would often ask others and seek a guide with whom they might make the journey safely.¹³⁶² But when gambling—as the saying goes—with their whole life, they consult no one and fall into the worst life, if it happens so.¹³⁶³

1358.The heading names Theophrastus without giving a work title. The opening for connects with an earlier argument. More sociable and pliant renders κοινότερα καὶ ὑγρότερα, qualities of character shaped by education. The three subdivisions serve layout only.

1359.Three printed dots mark a gap after ἐξουσίαν, freedom or opportunity. The missing words are not restored; the precise limit on the many’s opportunity therefore remains unstated.

1360.Ἐλευθερίως describes a liberal upbringing, and χορηγία sufficient resources. The criticism distinguishes those lacking opportunity from those equipped to consider and choose a way of life.

1361.The contrast concerns care in choosing one’s surroundings and associates versus neglect in choosing a life. Οἰκεῖοι are those close to someone, rendered intimates; no particular city or circle is named.

1362.The ordinary journey supplies an analogy for the more consequential direction of a whole life. The guide is not identified with a named person or philosophical school.

1363.Κυβεύοντες evokes throwing dice. The worst life supplies the noun understood with τὸν χείριστον; the qualifying ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ, if it happens so, leaves the outcome to chance.

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.