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 15 · II.15.29–II.15.31

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English Page · Branch 356 of 516

Book II Chapter 15 · II.15.29–II.15.31

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Ancient Greek

p. 708

Θεμιστίου ἐκ τοῦ Μετριοπαθοῦς ἢ Φιλοτέκνου

II.15.29

Ὅτι ὁ λόγος ἐὰν μὴ τῷ τρόπῳ σύμφωνος ᾖ, ἀλλότριος γίνεται καὶ οὐ τοῦ λέγοντος, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος ὃν Θερσίτης ἔλεγε τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς,

ὃν κεν ἐγὼ δήσας ἀγάγω·

οὗτος γὰρ Ἀχιλλέως καὶ Αἴαντος ἦν· ὁ κυφὸς δὲ αὐτὸν οὐδὲν προσήκοντα ὑπεβάλετο.

Μύσωνος

II.15.30

Μύσων ὁ Χηνεὺς ἔφη δεῖν οὐκ ἐκ τῶν λόγων τὰ⟨ς πράξεις⟩ κρίνειν, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῶν πράξεων τοὺς λόγους.

Θεοφράστου

II.15.31

⟨Οὐ⟩ τὸν βίον ἐκ τῆς τοῦ λόγου δεινότητος πιστοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν λόγον ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὸν βίον εὐταξίας.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 15

p. 709

Themistius, from On Moderation of Emotion, or On Love of One’s Children

II.15.29

That if speech is not in accord with character, it becomes alien and does not belong to its speaker, like the words Thersites addressed to the Achaeans:

whom I might bring in bonds.¹⁰⁰⁹

For this belonged to Achilles and Ajax; the hunchback appropriated it, though it did not belong to him at all.¹⁰¹⁰

Myson

II.15.30

Myson of Chen said that one should judge ⟨deeds⟩ not by words, but words by deeds.¹⁰¹¹

Theophrastus

II.15.31

We establish the credibility of a life ⟨not⟩ from skill in speech, but that of speech from good order in life.¹⁰¹²

1009.The verse is the opening part of Iliad II.231. Thersites is addressing Agamemnon about a Trojan captive for whom ransom might be brought. The local quotation stops before the rest of the Homeric line, which adds or another of the Achaeans.

1010.Themistius means that such a boast would fit Achilles or Ajax; he is not saying that Homer assigns this utterance to them. The hunchback refers to Thersites. Ὑπεβάλετο evokes passing something off as one’s own, reinforcing the claim that speech must fit the speaker’s character.

1011.The name is Myson, not Musonius. The completion τὰ⟨ς πράξεις⟩ supplies the noun deeds and the end of its article; English marks the supplied noun. Diogenes Laertius I.108 independently assigns Myson a related maxim about testing arguments by facts. The wording here remains Wachsmuth’s quotation, with deeds and words.

1012.Supplied ⟨οὐ⟩ is retained as ⟨not⟩. Printed πιστοῦμεν means make credible or establish credibility, rather than the transmitted πιστεύομεν, believe. Εὐταξία, good order, concerns the ordering of conduct here; the person’s way of life gives authority to the speech.

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.