Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 18 of 516
Book II Chapter 1 · II.1.30.1–II.1.30.2
Ancient Greek
p. 32Ξενοφῶντος ἐκ αʹ Σωκρατικῶν Ἀπομνημονευμάτων
Οὐδὲ γὰρ περὶ τῆς τῶν πάντων φύσεως ᾗπερ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ πλεῖστοι διελέγετο, σκοπῶν ὅπως ὁ καλούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν σοφιστῶν κόσμος ἔχει, καὶ τίσιν ἀνάγκαις ἕκαστα γίνεται τῶν οὐρανίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς φροντίζοντας τὰ τοιαῦτα μωραίνοντας ἐπεδείκνυεν. Ἐθαύμαζε δ’ εἰ μὴ φανερόν ἐστιν αὐτοῖς, ὅτι ταῦτα ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις εὑρεῖν, εἴ γε καὶ τοὺς μέγιστον φρονοῦντας ἐπὶ τῷ περὶ τούτων λέγειν οὐ ταὐτὰ δοξάζειν ἀλλήλοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μαινομένοις ὁμοίως διακεῖσθαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους.
Ξενοφῶντος · συνέχεια
Τῶν τε γὰρ μαινομένων τοῖς μὲν οὐδὲ τὰ δεινὰ δεδιέναι, τοὺς δὲ καὶ τὰ μὴ δεινὰ φοβεῖσθαι· καὶ τοῖς μὲν οὐδ’ ἐν ὄχλῳ δοκεῖν αἰσχρὸν εἶναι λέγειν ἢ ποιεῖν ὁτιοῦν, τοῖς δ’ οὐκ ἐξιτητέον εἰς ἀνθρώπους εἶναι δοκεῖν· καὶ τοὺς μὲν οὔθ’ ἱερὸν οὔτε βωμὸν οὔτε ἄλλο τῶν θείων οὐδὲν τιμᾶν, τοὺς δὲ καὶ λίθους καὶ ξύλα τὰ τυχόντα καὶ θηρία σέβεσθαι· τῶν τε περὶ τῆς τῶν πάντων φύσεως μεριμνώντων τοῖς μὲν δοκεῖν ἓν μόνον τὸ ὂν εἶναι, τοῖς δ’ ἄπειρα τὸ πλῆθος· καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἀεὶ πάντα κινεῖσθαι, τοῖς δ’ οὐδὲν ἄν ποτε κινηθῆναι· καὶ τοῖς μὲν πάντα γίγνεσθαί τε καὶ ἀπόλλυσθαι, τοῖς δ’ οὔτ’ ἂν γενέσθαι ποτέ οὐδὲν οὔτε ἀπολέσθαι.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 1
p. 33Xenophon from Memorabilia, Book I · 1
For he did not discuss the nature of the universe in the way most others did, examining the condition of what the sophists call the cosmos and the necessities by which each heavenly event occurs. Indeed, he showed that those who concern themselves with such matters were acting foolishly. He wondered whether it was not clear to them that these things are impossible for human beings to discover, since even those who take the greatest pride in speaking about them do not hold the same opinions as one another, but stand in relation to one another much as madmen do.42
Xenophon, Memorabilia · 2
For among madmen, some fear nothing, even when it is terrible, while others fear even what is not terrible. Some think it no disgrace to say or do anything, even in a crowd, while others think they must not go out among people. Some honor neither sanctuary nor altar nor anything else divine, while others revere even random stones, pieces of wood, and wild animals. In the same way, among those who concern themselves with the nature of the universe, some think that what exists is only one, others that existing things are infinite in number; some that everything is always moving, others that nothing could ever move; some that everything comes into being and passes away, others that nothing could ever either come into being or perish.43
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 1 · II.1.30.1–II.1.30.2
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.