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.15.39–II.15.41

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Facing Pages · Branch 359 of 516

Book II Chapter 15 · II.15.39–II.15.41

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Ancient Greek

p. 714

Ἐκ τοῦ Ἐπικτήτου Ἐγχειριδίου

II.15.39

Τὰ πρόβατα οὐ χόρτον φέροντα τοῖς ποιμέσιν ἐπιδείκνυσι πόσον ἔφαγεν, ἀλλὰ πέψαντα τὴν νομὴν ⟨ἔσω⟩, ἔρια ἔξω φέρει καὶ τυρόν· καὶ σὺ μὴ τὰ θεωρήματα τοῖς ἰδιώταις ἐπιδείκνυε, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν πραχθέντα ἔργα.

Δημοκρίτου

II.15.40

Οὔτε λόγος ἐσθλὸς φαύλην πρῆξιν ἀμαυρίσκει, οὔτε πρῆξις ἀγαθὴ λόγου βλασφημίῃ λυμαίνεται.

Δημοσθένους Ὀλυνθιακῶν

II.15.41

Τὸ γὰρ πράττειν τοῦ λέγειν καὶ χειροτονεῖν ὕστερον ὂν τῇ τάξει, πρότερον τῇ δυνάμει καὶ κρεῖττόν ἐστι.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 15

p. 715

From Epictetus’s Handbook

II.15.39

Sheep do not show their shepherds how much they have eaten by bringing them grass. Instead, after digesting their forage ⟨within⟩, they bring forth wool and cheese outside.¹⁰²² You too should not display your principles to laypeople, but the deeds accomplished from them.¹⁰²³

Democritus

II.15.40

Fine speech does not conceal a base deed, nor is a good deed spoiled by slanderous speech.¹⁰²⁴

Demosthenes, from the Olynthiacs

II.15.41

For action, though it comes after speaking and voting in sequence, comes first in effectiveness and is superior.¹⁰²⁵

1022.Epictetus, Handbook 46.2. The supplied ⟨ἔσω⟩ means within. The anthology prints τυρόν, cheese, where the separate Handbook text has γάλα, milk. Local φέροντα means bringing; the apparatus considers a different reading involving bringing up or vomiting. The printed wording is retained.

1023.Θεωρήματα are philosophical principles or propositions, not necessarily mathematical theorems. The comparison turns inward assimilation into outward conduct. The local ending has πραχθέντα ἔργα, deeds accomplished; the separate Handbook text instead speaks of deeds coming from principles that have been digested. That wording is not imported into the anthology.

1024.Πρῆξις is the Ionic form of the word for action. The two halves deny that words can cancel the moral quality of a deed: fine speech cannot obscure a base action, and verbal slander cannot spoil a good one. Ἀμαυρίσκει literally suggests dimming or obscuring.

1025.Demosthenes, Third Olynthiac 15. Χειροτονεῖν refers to voting by a show of hands. The distinction is between sequence, τάξις, and effective power, δύναμις: speeches and votes precede implementation, but their practical force depends on action. The surrounding speech contrasts decrees with actually doing what they prescribe.

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.