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.1.28–II.1.29.1

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Book II Chapter 1 · II.1.28–II.1.29.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 28

Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Κριτίου ἢ Ἀτλαντικοῦ

II.1.28

Περὶ θεῶν γάρ, ὦ Τίμαιε, λέγοντά τι πρὸς ἀνθρώπους δοκεῖν ἱκανῶς λέγειν ῥᾷον, ἢ περὶ θνητῶν πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Ἡ γὰρ ἀπειρία καὶ σφόδρα ἄγνοια τῶν ἀκουόντων, περὶ ὧν ἂν οὕτως ἔχωσι, πολλὴν εὐπορίαν παρέχεσθον τῷ μέλλοντι λέγειν τι περὶ αὐτῶν.

Ξενοφῶντος ἐκ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τῆς Πρὸς Αἰσχίνην

II.1.29.1

Συντυχών μοι Ἑρμογένης τά τε ἄλλα διεξῄει, καὶ περὶ σοῦ δὲ πυνθομένῳ, ἥν τινα ἔχοις φιλοσοφίας ἐπιμέλειαν, ἀπεκρίνατο, τὴν αὐτὴν Σωκράτει. Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ ἡνίκα Ἀθήνῃσι διέτριβον, τῆς γνώμης σε ἠγάσθην. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἠρξάμην σε θαυμάζων, οὕτω καὶ νῦν παρ’ ὁντινοῦν τῶν σοφίαν ἀσπασαμένων τεθαύμακα τὸ ἀμετάκλαστόν σου τῆς γνώμης (μέγιστον γάρ, ὡς ἐγῷμαι, τεκμήριον ἀρετῆς) ἁλόντος ὑπὸ τἀνδρὸς ἐκείνου, εἴπερ θνητοῦ καλεῖν τὸν Σωκράτους οἷόντε βίον.

Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ τὰ θεῖα ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς, παντὶ δῆλον· ἀπόχρη δὲ τὸ κρεῖττον τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοὺς σέβειν. Οἷοι δ’ εἰσιν, οὔτε εὑρεῖν ῥᾴδιον οὔτε ζητεῖν θεμιτόν· οὐδὲ γὰρ δεσποτῶν φύσιν ἢ πρᾶξιν δούλους δεῖ εἰδέναι, οἷς οὐδὲν πλέον ὑπηρεσίας προσήκει.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 1

p. 29

Plato from Critias, or Atlantis

II.1.28

For when speaking to human beings about gods, Timaeus, it is easier to seem to speak adequately than when speaking to us about mortals. The hearers’ inexperience and utter ignorance of subjects about which they are in this condition give great latitude to anyone about to speak of them.³⁷

Xenophon from the Letter to Aeschines · 1

II.1.29.1

Hermogenes met me and spoke about various matters. When I also asked about you and your devotion to philosophy, he answered that it was the same as Socrates’. Even when I was living in Athens, I admired your resolve. As I began by admiring you, so now I admire, beyond that of anyone who has embraced wisdom, the steadfastness of your resolve—for this, I think, is the greatest evidence of virtue—since you were won over by that man, if indeed one can call Socrates’ life the life of a mortal.³⁸

That divine matters are beyond us is clear to everyone; it is enough to revere the gods for their superiority in power. What they are like is neither easy to discover nor lawful to investigate. For slaves should not know the nature or conduct of their masters, since nothing beyond service belongs to their role.³⁹

37.Critias 107A–B. Critias addresses Timaeus. The claim concerns how easily an account can seem adequate to an uninformed audience; it does not establish that divine matters are easier to know. The alternative title follows the anthology’s heading.

38.The heading attributes the letter to Xenophon. A parallel is quoted in Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel XIV.12; Gifford’s edition identifies it as Pseudo-Xenophon (note 29). The attribution is therefore retained as transmitted, not treated as proof of authentic correspondence. Parts 1–3 divide this single excerpt only for facing-page layout.

39.The wording about superior power is compressed and textually unsettled; Wachsmuth records variant readings. The slave-and-master comparison belongs to the letter’s argument for religious restraint and should not be mistaken for a neutral description of every ancient view.

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.