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 7 · II.7.11m.15–II.7.11m.16

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Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11m.15–II.7.11m.16

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Ancient Greek

p. 364

Ψεῦδος καὶ τὸ ψεύδεσθαι

II.7.11m.15

Λέγεσθαι δὲ μὴ ψεύδεσθαι τὸν σοφόν, ἀλλ’ ἐν πᾶσιν ἀληθεύειν· οὐ γὰρ ἐν τῷ λέγειν τι ψεῦδος τὸ ψεύδεσθαι ὑπάρχειν, ἀλλ’ ἐν τῷ διεψευσμένως τὸ ψεῦδος λέγειν καὶ ἐπὶ ἀπάτῃ τῶν πλησίον. Τῷ μέντοι ψεύδει ποτὲ συγχρήσεσθαι νομίζουσιν αὐτὸν κατὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους ἄνευ συγκαταθέσεως· καὶ γὰρ κατὰ στρατηγίαν ⟨κατὰ⟩ τῶν ἀντιπάλων καὶ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ συμφέροντος προόρασιν καὶ κατ’ ἄλλας οἰκονομίας τοῦ βίου πολλάς.

Ψευδὴς ὑπόληψις καὶ ἄγνοια

II.7.11m.16

Ψεῦδος δ’ ὑπολαμβάνειν οὐδέποτέ φασι τὸν σοφόν, οὐδὲ τὸ παράπαν ἀκαταλήπτῳ τινὶ συγκατατίθεσθαι, διὰ τὸ μηδὲ δοξάζειν αὐτόν, μηδ’ ἀγνοεῖν μηδέν. Τὴν γὰρ ἄγνοιαν μεταπτωτικὴν εἶναι συγκατάθεσιν καὶ ἀσθενῆ.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 365

Falsehood and Lying

II.7.11m.15

It is said that the wise person does not lie but speaks truth in everything. For lying consists not in saying something false, but in saying the falsehood while mistaken and with a view to deceiving one’s neighbors.⁴⁸⁵ Yet they think that he will sometimes employ falsehood in many ways without assenting to it: in military command ⟨against⟩ his opponents, in foreseeing what is beneficial, and in many other arrangements of life.⁴⁸⁶

False Belief and Ignorance

II.7.11m.16

They say that the wise person never believes a falsehood, nor assents at all to anything not apprehensible, since he neither holds an opinion nor is ignorant of anything. For ignorance is assent that is liable to change and weak.⁴⁸⁷

485.The source distinguishes ψεῦδος, a falsehood, from ψεύδεσθαι, lying. Its definition includes διεψευσμένως, being oneself mistaken, and the purpose of deceiving others. The English preserves these elements rather than replacing them with an ordinary modern definition of lying.

486.The qualification ἄνευ συγκαταθέσεως, “without assent,” is central: using a falsehood does not here mean accepting it as true. The text nevertheless includes its use against military opponents. The distinction should remain visible rather than be smoothed into a claim that the wise person never utters a false statement. The supplied κατά is “against”; προόρασις is foresight, and οἰκονομίαι are arrangements or management of life.

487.Συγκατάθεσις is assent, κατάληψις apprehension, and δόξα opinion in the technical distinctions developed below. The printed text defines ἄγνοια, ignorance, as weak and changeable assent. Wachsmuth discusses a reconstruction involving a definition of opinion in his apparatus, but does not insert it into the text. The English therefore retains “ignorance” and does not silently substitute that reconstruction. The assertions describe the school’s ideal sage.

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.