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 468 of 516
Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.125.1
Ancient Greek
p. 932Μουσωνίου ἐκ τοῦ Ὅτι οὐ δεῖ πολλαῖς ἀποδείξεσι πρὸς ἓν πρᾶγμα χρήσασθαι
Λόγου δέ ποτε γενομένου περὶ ἀποδείξεων, ἃς χρὴ ἀκούειν τοὺς νέους παρὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων πρὸς κατάληψιν ὧν μανθάνουσιν, ἔφη ὁ Μουσώνιος, οὐχὶ πολλὰς ἐφ’ ἑκάστου πράγματος ζητεῖν ἀποδείξεις προσήκειν, ἀλλ’ ἀνυσίμους καὶ ἐναργεῖς. Οὔτε γὰρ ἰατρὸς ἐκεῖνος, ἔφη, ἐπαινετὸς ὁ φάρμακα πολλὰ προσφέρων τοῖς νοσοῦσιν, ἀλλ’ ὁ δι’ ὀλίγων ὧν προσφέρει λόγου ἀξίως ὠφελῶν· οὔτε φιλόσοφος ὁ διὰ πολλῶν ἀποδείξεων διδάσκων τοὺς ἀκούοντας, ἀλλ’ ὁ δι’ ὀλίγων ἐπάγων αὐτοὺς ἐφ’ ὃ μέντοι βούλεται· καὶ ὁ ἀκουστὴς ὅσῳπερ ἂν ᾖ συνετώτερος, τοσούτῳ μειόνων δεήσεται τῶν ἀποδείξεων καὶ τοσούτῳ θᾶττον συναινέσει τῷ κεφαλαίῳ τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι γε ὑγιεῖ.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 31
p. 933Musonius, That One Should Not Use Many Proofs for a Single Matter
Once, when discussion arose about the proofs young people must hear from philosophers in order to grasp what they learn, Musonius said that one should seek effective and clear proofs for each matter, rather than many.1367 For the praiseworthy doctor, he said, is not the one who gives the sick many medicines, but the one who benefits them appreciably through the few he gives; nor is the praiseworthy philosopher the one who teaches his listeners through many proofs, but the one who brings them through a few to the very point he intends.1368 And the more intelligent the listener, the fewer proofs he will need, and the sooner he will assent to the argument’s main point, since it is sound, at any rate.1369
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 31 · II.31.125.1
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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.
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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.