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 1 · II.1.17-18–II.1.19

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Book II Chapter 1 · II.1.17-18–II.1.19

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Ancient Greek

p. 18

Διδύμου ἐκ τοῦ Περὶ αἱρέσεων

II.1.17-18

Ξενοφάνους πρῶτον λόγος ἦλθεν εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἄξιος γραφῆς, ἅμα παιδιᾷ τάς τε τῶν ἄλλων τόλμας ἐπιπλήττοντος καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ παριστάντος εὐλάβειαν, ὡς ἄρα

θεὸς μὲν οἶδε τὴν ἀλήθειαν, δόκος δ’ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τέτυκται.

Ἡ μὲν γὰρ φιλοσοφία θήρα τῆς ἀληθείας ἐστὶ καὶ ὄρεξις. | Τῶν δὲ φιλοσοφησάντων ἔνιοι εὑρεῖν φασι τὸ θήραμα, ὡς Ἐπίκουρος καὶ οἱ Στωικοί· οἱ δὲ ἀκμὴν ἔτι ζητεῖν ὡς που παρὰ θεοῖς ὄν, καὶ τῆς σοφίας οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνου χρήματος ὄντος· οὕτως ἔλεγε Σωκράτης καὶ Πύρρων.

Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Τιμαίου

II.1.19

Ἐὰν οὖν, ὦ Σώκρατες, πολλὰ πολλῶν εἰπόντων περὶ θεῶν καὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς γενέσεως, μὴ δυνατοὶ γιγνώμεθα πάντῃ πάντως αὐτοῖς ἑαυτοῖς ὁμολογουμένους λόγους καὶ ἀπηκριβωμένους ἀποδοῦναι, μὴ θαυμάσῃς· ἀλλ’ ἐὰν ἄρα μηδενὸς ἧττον παρεχώμεθα εἰκότας, ἀγαπᾶν χρὴ μεμνημένους, ὡς ὁ λέγων ὑμεῖς τε οἱ κριταὶ φύσιν ἀνθρωπίνην ἔχομεν· ὥστε περὶ τούτων τὸν εἰκότα μῦθον ἀποδεχομένους πρέπει τούτου μηδὲν ἔτι πέρα ζητεῖν.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 1

p. 19

Didymus from On Schools

II.1.17-18

A saying of Xenophanes first came among the Greeks that was worth recording: with a touch of playfulness he rebuked the boldness of others while showing his own caution, to the effect that

God knows the truth, but opinion is fashioned over all.²⁴

For philosophy is a hunt for truth and a desire for it. | Some who have pursued philosophy say that they have found the quarry, as Epicurus and the Stoics do; others say that they are still searching, since it is somewhere among the gods and wisdom is no human possession. Socrates and Pyrrho spoke in this way.²⁵

Plato from the Timaeus

II.1.19

If, then, Socrates, after the many things that many people have said about the gods and the coming into being of the universe, we cannot give accounts that are completely consistent with themselves and exact in every respect, do not be surprised. But if we offer accounts no less likely than anyone else’s, we must be content, remembering that both the speaker and you who judge have a human nature. So, accepting the likely story about these matters, we ought to seek nothing beyond it.²⁶

24.The words are transmitted within Didymus’s report. Δόκος is opinion or seeming; the statement is not treated here as an independently preserved, complete poem of Xenophanes. The English retains the report’s caution about human claims to truth.

25.This combined locator preserves the passage’s continuity under Didymus. Wachsmuth prints a concordance to earlier numbering, “17 H. 18 G. M.,” before “For philosophy,” rather than a fresh author-heading. The vertical stroke after “desire” marks his reconstruction of the join: his note explains that two leaves missing from the Eclogae tradition were preserved in the Florilegium. The following material is part of his restored text, not an addition invented for this translation.

26.Timaeus 29C–D. The translation follows the form of the excerpt printed by Wachsmuth, including its reference to what many people have said. Εἰκώς is “likely” or “plausible”; μῦθος is “story” or “account.” Their combination expresses the account’s qualified status, not a license to replace its claims with arbitrary invention.

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.