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 53 of 516
Book II Chapter 4 · II.4.18.3–II.4.18.4
Ancient Greek
p. 102Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδρου · συνέχεια
Ὁ δ’ εἶπεν, Ὦ τεχνικώτατε Θεὺθ, ἄλλος μὲν δυνατὸς τεκεῖν τὰ τέχνης, ἄλλος δὲ κρῖναι, τίν’ ἔχει μοῖραν βλάβης τε καὶ ὠφελείας τοῖς μέλλουσι χρήσθαι. Καὶ νῦν σὺ πατὴρ ὢν γραμμάτων δι’ εὔνοιαν τοὐναντίον εἶπες ἢ δύναται. Τοῦτο γὰρ τῶν μαθόντων λήθην μὲν ἐν ψυχαῖς παρέξει, μνήμης ἀμελετησίᾳ, ἅτε διὰ πίστιν γραφῆς ἔξωθεν ὑπ’ ἀλλοτρίων τύπων, οὐκ ἔνδοθεν αὐτοὺς ὑφ’ αὑτῶν ἀναμιμνησκομένους. Οὐκοῦν οὐ μνήμης ἀλλ’ ὑπομνήσεως φάρμακον εὗρες, σοφίας δὲ τοῖς μαθηταῖς δόξαν οὐκ ἀλήθειαν πορίζεις. Πολυήκοοι γάρ σοι γενόμενοι ἄνευ διδαχῆς πολυγνώμονες εἶναι δόξουσιν, ἀγνώμονες ὡς ἐπὶ πλῆθος ὄντες καὶ χαλεποὶ ξυνεῖναι, δοξόσοφοι γεγονότες ἀντὶ σοφῶν.
Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδρου · συνέχεια
— Ὦ Σώκρατες, ῥᾳδίως σὺ Αἰγυπτίους καὶ ὁποδαποὺς ἂν ἐθέλῃς λόγους ποιεῖς.
— Οἱ δέ γ’, ὦ φίλε, ἐν τῷ τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Δωδωναίου ἱερῷ δρυὸς λόγους ἔφησαν μαντικοὺς πρώτους γενέσθαι. Τοῖς μὲν οὖν τότε, ἅτε οὐκ οὖσι σοφοῖς, ὥσπερ ὑμεῖς οἱ νέοι, ἀπέχρη δρυὸς καὶ πέτρας ἀκούειν ὑπ’ εὐηθείας, εἰ μόνον ἀληθῆ λέγοιεν· σοὶ δ’ ἴσως διαφέρει, τίς ὁ λέγων καὶ ποδαπός. Οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο μόνον σκοπεῖς, εἴτε οὕτως εἴτε ἄλλως ἔχει.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 4
p. 103The same author from the Phaedrus · 3
“But he replied: ‘Theuth, master of invention, one person can give birth to the products of an art, another can judge the share of harm and benefit they bring to those who will use them. And now, because you are the father of writing, your affection has made you say the opposite of what it can do. It will produce forgetfulness in the souls of those who learn it, through neglect of the exercise of memory: trusting in writing, they will recall things from outside, through marks belonging to others, rather than from within, by themselves. You have therefore discovered a remedy for reminding, rather than for memory. And you provide your pupils with the appearance of wisdom, rather than its truth. Having heard much without instruction, they will seem to know much, while for the most part being ignorant; they will be difficult to live with, having become seemingly wise instead of wise.’”121
The same author from the Phaedrus · 4
“Socrates, how easily you make up Egyptian stories—or stories from any country you please!”
“But people have said, my friend, that the first prophetic discourses were those of an oak in the sanctuary of Zeus at Dodona. The people of that time, who were not wise as you young people are, were simple enough to be content to listen to an oak or a stone, provided only that it spoke the truth. Perhaps it matters to you who the speaker is and where he comes from. For you do not consider only whether the matter is as he says or otherwise.”122
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 4 · II.4.18.3–II.4.18.4
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.