Joannes Stobaeus, from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containing two books each. The two volumes became separated in the manuscript tradition, and the first volume became known as the Extracts and the second volume became known as the Anthology. Modern editions now refer to both volumes as the Anthology. The Anthology contains extracts from hundreds of writers, especially poets, historians, orators, philosophers and physicians. The subjects
range from natural philosophy, dialectics, and ethics, to politics, economics, and maxims of practical wisdom. The work preserves fragments of many authors and works which otherwise might be unknown today.
Page one of the Florilegium of Stobaeus, from the 1536 edition by Vettore Trincavelli.
Thomas Gaisford was an English classical scholar and clergyman. He served as Dean of Christ Church from 1831 until his death.
Thomas Gaisford, portrait taken from the Imagines Philologorum
Poetae minores graeci, vol. I, 1823