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Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.1.22–I.41.1.23
Ancient Greek
p. 8341.22
Οὗτοι δὲ οἱ λόγοι ὀλίγους παντελῶς τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ἔχουσιν ἢ τάχα οὐδὲ τοὺς ὀλίγους ἕξουσιν. Ἔχουσι δέ τι καὶ ἴδιον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· τοὺς κακοὺς μᾶλλον παροξύνουσι πρὸς τὴν κακίαν· διὸ χρὴ τοὺς πολλοὺς φυλάττεσθαι μὴ νοοῦντας τῶν λεγομένων τὴν ἀρετήν.
1.23
⟨ΤΑΤ⟩ Πῶς εἶπας, ὦ πάτερ;
⟨ΕΡΜ.⟩ Οὕτως, ὦ τέκνον. Πᾶν τὸ ζῷον τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἐπιρρεπέστερόν ἐστιν εἰς τὴν κακίαν καὶ ταύτῃ σύντροφον γίγνεται, διὸ καὶ ἥδεται αὐτῇ. Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ζῷον ἐὰν μάθῃ ὅτι γενητὸς ὁ κόσμος καὶ πάντα κατὰ πρόνοιαν καὶ ἀνάγκην γίνεται, εἱμαρμένης πάντων ἀρχούσης, οὕτω πολλῷ ἑαυτοῦ χεῖρον ἔσται, καταφρονῆσαν μὲν τοῦ παντὸς ὡς γενητοῦ, τὰς δὲ αἰτίας τοῦ κακοῦ τῇ εἱμαρμένῃ ἀναφέρον, οὐδ᾽ ἀφέξεταί ποτε παντὸς ἔργου κακοῦ. Διὸ φυλακτέον αὐτούς, ὅπως ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ ὄντες ἔλαττον ὦσι κακοὶ φόβῳ τοῦ ἀδήλου.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 41
p. 8351.22 · Few receptive hearers
These teachings have very few hearers indeed, and perhaps they will not even have those few. They also have a peculiar feature: they provoke the wicked still further toward wickedness. One must therefore be on guard against the multitude, who do not understand the excellence of what is being said.1080
1.23 · The misuse of fate
⟨TAT⟩ What do you mean, father?
⟨HERMES⟩ This, my child. The human creature as a whole inclines more readily toward wickedness and grows up in its company, which is why it takes pleasure in it. If this creature learns that the cosmos came into being and that everything happens according to providence and necessity, with fate ruling all things, it will become far worse than before: it will despise the whole as something generated, attribute the causes of evil to fate, and never refrain from any evil deed. We must therefore guard against them, so that, remaining ignorant, they may be less wicked through fear of what is hidden.1081
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.1.22–I.41.1.23
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.
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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.