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Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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Book II Chapter 4 · II.4.18.1
Ancient Greek
p. 98Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδρου
Οὐκοῦν τὸ μὲν τέχνης τε καὶ ἀτεχνίας λόγων πέρι ἱκανῶς ἐχέτω.
— Τί μήν;
— Τὸ δ’ εὐπρεπείας ⟨δὴ γραφῆς πέρι καὶ ἀπρεπείας⟩, τῇ γιγνόμενον καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι, καὶ ὅπῃ ἀπρεπῶς, λοιπόν, ἦ γάρ;
— Ναί.
— Οἶσθ’ οὖν ὅπῃ μάλιστα θεῷ χαριεῖ λόγων πέρι πράττων ἢ λέγων;
— Οὐδαμῶς· σὺ δέ;
— Ἀκοήν γ’ ἔχω λέγειν τῶν προτέρων· τὸ δ’ ἀληθὲς αὐτοὶ ἴσασιν. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο εὕρομεν αὐτοί, ἆρά γ’ ἂν ἔθ’ ἡμῖν μέλοι τι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων δοξασμάτων;
— Γελοῖον ἤρου· ἀλλ’ ἃ φῂς ἀκηκοέναι, λέγε.
— Ἤκουσα τοίνυν περὶ Ναύκρατιν τῆς Αἰγύπτου γενέσθαι τῶν ἐκεῖ παλαιῶν τινα θεῶν, οὗ καὶ τὸ ὄρνεον ἱερόν, ὃ δὴ καλοῦσιν Ἶβιν· αὐτῷ δὲ ὄνομα τῷ δαίμονι εἶναι Θεὺθ.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 4
p. 99The same author from the Phaedrus · 1
“Let that suffice, then, for the question of art and the lack of art in discourse.”
“Certainly.”
“There remains the question of propriety ⟨in writing, and of impropriety⟩: in what circumstances it would be well done, and in what circumstances improperly. Is that so?”119
“Yes.”
“Do you know how, in acting or speaking about discourse, you will most please a god?”
“Not at all. Do you?”
“I can tell a story heard from earlier people; they themselves know its truth. But if we discovered this ourselves, would we still care at all about human opinions?”
“An absurd question! But tell me what you say you have heard.”
“I heard, then, that near Naucratis in Egypt there lived one of that country’s ancient gods, to whom the bird they call the ibis was sacred. The name of the divine being himself was Theuth.”
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 4 · II.4.18.1
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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.