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.21–II.7.11m.22

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Facing Pages · Branch 187 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11m.21–II.7.11m.22

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Ancient Greek

p. 370

Ὑπόνοια καὶ μετάνοια

II.7.11m.21

Οὐδ’ ὑπονοεῖν δέ φασι τὸν σοφόν, καὶ γὰρ τὴν ὑπόνοιαν ἀκαταλήπτῳ εἶναι τῷ γένει συγκατάθεσιν· οὐδὲ μετανοεῖν δ’ ὑπολαμβάνουσι τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντα, καὶ γὰρ τὴν μετάνοιαν ἔχεσθαι ψευδοῦς συγκαταθέσεως, ⟨ὡς⟩ ἂν προδιαπεπτωκότος.

Βεβαιότης τῶν δογμάτων

II.7.11m.22

Οὐδὲ μεταβάλλεσθαι δὲ κατ’ οὐδένα τρόπον, οὐδὲ μετατίθεσθαι, οὐδὲ σφάλλεσθαι· ταῦτα γὰρ εἶναι πάντα τῶν τοῖς δόγμασι μεταπιπτόντων, ὅπερ ἀλλότριον εἶναι τοῦ νοῦν ἔχοντος· οὐδὲ δοκεῖν αὐτῷ τι φασὶ παραπλησίως τοῖς εἰρημένοις.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 371

Conjecture and Changing One’s Mind

II.7.11m.21

They also say that the wise person does not conjecture, for conjecture too is, in its kind, assent to something not apprehensible. Nor do they suppose that the person of understanding changes his mind, for a change of mind too depends on false assent, ⟨as⟩ in someone who had previously gone wrong.⁴⁹⁵

Firmness of Beliefs

II.7.11m.22

Nor does he change in any way, shift his position, or stumble; for all these belong to people who are unstable in their beliefs, a condition alien to the person of understanding. In keeping with what has been said, they also deny that anything merely seems true to him.⁴⁹⁶

495.Ὑπόνοια can mean conjecture or suspicion; here it is classified through its relation to assent and apprehension. Μετάνοια is a change of mind or repentance, explained by a prior error, rather than the earlier term μεταμέλεια, regret. The supplied ὡς remains bracketed. The source’s categorical denial is retained, together with its stated reason; it has not been rewritten as a general recommendation against reconsideration.

496.The sequence μεταβάλλεσθαι, μετατίθεσθαι, σφάλλεσθαι is kept distinct as changing, shifting position, and stumbling. Its explanation concerns instability in δόγματα, beliefs or doctrines. The final δοκεῖν αὐτῷ τι is literally “something seems to him”; “merely seems true” expresses its connection here with opinion and the preceding discussion of firm assent, rather than treating it as a denial of all appearances. This concludes the source’s II.7.11m; the numerical subdivisions in this edition serve layout only.

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.