Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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Facing Pages · Branch 30 of 516
Book II Chapter 2 · II.2.7
Ancient Greek
p. 56Ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ
Μετίωμεν δὴ οὖν ἐπὶ τὰς κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν διατριβάς. Πασῶν πρῶταί εἰσιν αἱ πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν ἀναγόμεναι· ταύτας δὴ οὖν, ⟨ὡς⟩ καὶ ὁ Σωκράτης ἐπιδείκνυει τῷ Μένωνι, διὰ τοῦ καλῶς ἐρωτᾶν ὁρῶμεν ἐκφαινομένας. Δεύτεραι δ’ ἂν εἶεν αἱ μαιείας ἕνεκα προσαγόμεναι καὶ τὰ γεννηθέντα εἰς φῶς προάγουσαι καὶ διακρίνουσαι τίνα μὲν αὐτῶν ἀληθῆ, τίνα δὲ ψευδῆ· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὗται πᾶσαι διὰ τῆς διαλεκτικῆς τὸ κῦρος ἔχουσιν· ἐπειδὴ αὗταί εἰσιν αἱ διὰ τῶν ἐλέγχων καθάρσεις τῆς διανοίας, παρατιθεῖσαι τἀναντία δοξάσματα τῶν προσδιαλεγομένων καὶ συγκρούουσαι αὐτὰ πρὸς ἄλληλα. Ἄλλαι δὲ πείρας ἕνεκα καὶ γυμνασίας προσφερόμεναι τοῖς ἐπηκόοις, ἢ ὅσαι εἰς θέσιν ἐπιχειροῦσιν, ἢ εἴ τινες ἐξετάζουσι τὰς τῶν παλαιῶν ἀκροάσεις· ὧν οὐδεμία ⟨δίχα⟩ διαλεκτικῆς περαίνει τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἔργον. Ὅλως δὲ οὐχ οἷόν τε λόγον διδόναι καὶ λαμβάνειν δεόντως, εἰ μή τις κτήσαιτο ταύτην τὴν περὶ τῶν λόγων ἐπιστήμην.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 2
p. 57In the same letter
Let us turn, then, to philosophical exercises. First of all are those directed toward recollection: we see these brought to light through skillful questioning, ⟨as⟩ Socrates also demonstrates to Meno. Second would be those employed as midwifery, bringing what has been born into the light and distinguishing which of the offspring are true and which false.68 These too all derive their authority from dialectic, since they are purifications of thought through refutations: they set the interlocutors’ opposing opinions side by side and bring them into collision. Other exercises are offered to hearers for testing and training, or argue about a thesis, or examine the teachings of the ancients. None completes its own task ⟨without⟩ dialectic. In general, one cannot properly give and receive an account unless one has acquired this science of arguments.69
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 2 · II.2.7
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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.
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.