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.15.42–II.15.44

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Book II Chapter 15 · II.15.42–II.15.44

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Ancient Greek

p. 716

Φαλάριδος

II.15.42

Οὐδὲ τοῦτο συνιείς, ὅτι λόγος ἔργου σκιὰ παρὰ τοῖς σοφοῖς πεπίστευται.

Διογένους

II.15.43

Διογένης λόγον τινὰ διεξῄει περὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ ἐγκρατείας καὶ ὡς ἐπῄνουν αὐτὸν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, ὁ δὲ „κάκιστα ἀπόλοισθε“ εἶπε, „τοῖς ἔργοις μοι ἀντιλέγοντες.“

Πολυαίνου

II.15.44

Ὅταν μὲν γὰρ τῇ σεμνότητι τῶν λόγων καὶ ἡ πεῖρα τῶν ἔργων ἕπηται, τοῦτό τοι χρὴ καλεῖν δόγμα φιλοσόφου· ὅταν δὲ ὁ μὲν λόγος ἐπαγγέλληται μεγάλα, ὁ δὲ βίος πράττῃ μηδὲ τοὐλάχιστον, ἆρα οὐ κόμπος ταῦτα καὶ τερατεία σοφιστοῦ καὶ μειρακίων ἀκοὰς ἐκπλήττειν ἐσπουδακότος;

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 15

p. 717

Phalaris

II.15.42

Without even understanding this: that among the wise speech is held to be the shadow of action.¹⁰²⁶

Diogenes

II.15.43

Diogenes was delivering a discourse on temperance and self-control. When the Athenians praised him, he said, “May you perish miserably—you contradict me by your deeds.”¹⁰²⁷

Polyaenus

II.15.44

For when the test of deeds also keeps pace with the dignity of the words, this indeed should be called a philosopher’s teaching. But when speech promises great things and life accomplishes not even the least, is this not the boasting and bombast of a sophist intent on astonishing young men’s ears?¹⁰²⁸

1026.The source cites Letter 35 in the correspondence transmitted under the name of Phalaris. The excerpt opens with the participle συνιείς, understanding, rather than a complete independent sentence. The shadow image makes speech dependent on the deed it represents.

1027.Σωφροσύνη, temperance, and ἐγκράτεια, self-control, concern the audience’s conduct, not its willingness to applaud a discourse. The wish κάκιστα ἀπόλοισθε is a curse, not a request that the crowd go away; the following participle explains it through their contradictory deeds.

1028.Πεῖρα τῶν ἔργων puts the dignity of the discourse to the test of actual conduct. Δόγμα is teaching or doctrine here. Κόμπος and τερατεία characterize boastful, sensational display; the final phrase points to its intended effect on young listeners. The heading supplies the name Polyaenus without further identification.

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.