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 364 of 516
Book II Chapter 15 · II.15.47.1
Ancient Greek
p. 724Ἐκ τοῦ Θεοδώρου τῶν Τέλητος ἐπιτομῆς, Περὶ τοῦ δοκεῖν καὶ τοῦ εἶναι
Κρεῖττόν φασι τὸ δοκεῖν δίκαιον εἶναι τοῦ εἶναι· μὴ καὶ τὸ δοκεῖν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι τοῦ εἶναι κρεῖττόν ἐστιν; — Ἀμέλει. — Πότερον οὖν διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν ἀγαθοὶ ὑποκριταὶ εἶναι ⟨εὖ⟩ ὑποκρίνονται ἢ διὰ τὸ εἶναι; — ⟨Διὰ τὸ εἶναι. —⟩ Κιθαρίζουσι δὲ ⟨εὖ⟩ πότερον διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν ἀγαθοὶ κιθαρισταὶ ⟨εἶναι⟩ ἢ διὰ τὸ εἶναι; — Διὰ τὸ εἶναι. — Τὰ δ’ ἄλλα πάντα ἁπλῶς διὰ τὸ δοκεῖν ἀγαθοὶ ⟨εἶναι⟩ εὖ πράττουσιν ἢ διὰ τὸ εἶναι; — Διὰ τὸ εἶναι. — Δι’ ὃ δ’ εὖ βιοῦσι κρεῖττον ἢ δι’ ὃ μή· ὥστε κρεῖττον φαίνοιτ’ ἂν τὸ ἀγαθὸν εἶναι τοῦ δοκεῖν· ὁ γὰρ δίκαιος ἀγαθός, οὐχ ὁ δοκῶν δίκαιος εἶναι.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 15
p. 725From Theodorus’s epitome of Teles: On Seeming and Being
They say that seeming just is better than being just. Is seeming good perhaps also better than being good? — Certainly. — Then is it because they seem to be good actors that people act ⟨well⟩, or because they are? — ⟨Because they are. —⟩ And do they play the kithara ⟨well⟩ because they seem ⟨to be⟩ good kithara players or because they are? — Because they are.1039 — And in all other matters, generally, is it because they seem ⟨to be⟩ good that they do well, or because they are? — Because they are. — What enables them to live well is better than what does not. Thus being good would appear better than seeming so; for it is the just person who is good, not the person who seems to be just.1040
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 15 · II.15.47.1
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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.