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Book I Chapter 3 · I.3.49–I.3.50
Ancient Greek
p. 13049 Δημοσθένους
Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἀδικοῦντα καὶ ἐπιορκοῦντα καὶ ψευδόμενον δύναμιν βεβαίαν κτήσασθαι. ἀλλὰ τὰ τοιαῦτα εἰς μὲν ἅπαξ καὶ βραχὺν χρόνον ἀντέχει· καὶ σφόδρα γε ἤνθησεν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν, ἂν τύχῃ· τῷ χρόνῳ δὲ φωρᾶται καὶ περὶ αὑτὰ καταρρεῖ.
50 Ἐκ τῶν Ἐπικτήτου Ἀπομνημονευμάτων
“Ἀλλ’ ὁρῶ”, φησί τις, “τοὺς καλοὺς κἀγαθοὺς καὶ λιμῷ καὶ ῥίγει ἀπολλυμένους”. Τοὺς δὲ μὴ καλοὺς καὶ μὴ ἀγαθοὺς οὐχ ὁρᾷς τρυφῇ καὶ ἀλαζονείᾳ καὶ ἀπειροκαλίᾳ ἀπολλυμένους; “Ἀλλ’ αἰσχρὸν τὸ παρ’ ἄλλου τρέφεσθαι”. Καὶ τίς, ὦ κακόδαιμον, αὐτὸς ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ τρέφεται ἄλλος γε ἢ ὁ κόσμος;
Ὅστις γοῦν ἐγκαλεῖ τῇ προνοίᾳ ὅτι οἱ πονηροὶ οὐ διδόασι δίκην, ὅτι ἰσχυροί εἰσι καὶ πλούσιοι, ὅμοιόν τι δρᾷ ὥσπερ εἰ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀπολωλεκότων αὐτῶν ἔλεγε μὴ δεδωκέναι δίκην αὐτούς, ὅτι οἱ ὄνυχες ὑγιεῖς εἶεν. Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ φημι πολὺ διαφέρειν μᾶλλον ἀρετὴν κακίας, ἢ ὀφθαλμοὶ ὀνύχων διαφέρουσιν.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 3
p. 13149 Demosthenes
One cannot acquire lasting power by injustice, perjury, and lies. Such things hold up for a single occasion and a short time; they may even flourish greatly in the hopes they raise. But in time they are exposed and collapse upon themselves.140
50 From the Recollections of Epictetus
“But I see,” someone says, “good and honorable people perishing from hunger and cold.” And do you not see those who are neither good nor honorable perishing from luxury, pretension, and lack of refinement? “But it is shameful to be fed by someone else.” And who, poor fellow, nourishes himself from his own resources, other than the cosmos?
Anyone who complains against providence that the wicked go unpunished because they are strong and rich is doing much the same as if, after they had lost their eyes, he said they had not been punished because their nails were sound. For I maintain that virtue surpasses vice far more than eyes surpass nails.141
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 3 · I.3.49–I.3.50
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Stobaeus gathered Greek philosophy and poetry for his son Septimius. Volume I presents the dedication testimony, On Arithmetic, Book I through chapter 60, and the ancient contents of all four books. This complete bilingual edition includes an introduction and 2,117 explanatory notes.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek follows Curt Wachsmuth’s 1884 Volume I, checked against the supplied scan. Gaps, lost-chapter headings, and uncertain attributions remain visible. Chapter 2 includes a labeled proposed reconstruction. The appendix outlines Books I–IV; the full texts of Books II–IV are outside this volume. Reader pages preserve the companion PDF’s numbering.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the Greek. Prose and verse retain their distinct forms, with mixed passages preserving their quoted verse. Every passage is paired with its Greek and identified by the edition’s reference number. All 2,117 notes remain linked to their passages, with continuous numbering across the introduction and text.
Rights
Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 printing are in the public domain. The independent English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The complete supplied edition is available as PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown. The PDF retains the fixed page locations used by the companion lexicon.