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 54 of 516
Book II Chapter 4 · II.4.18.5–II.4.19
Ancient Greek
p. 104Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδρου · συνέχεια
— Ὀρθῶς ἐπέπληξας. Καί μοι δοκεῖ περὶ γραμμάτων ἔχειν ᾗπερ ὁ Θηβαῖος λέγει.
— Οὐκοῦν ὁ τέχνην οἰόμενος ἐν γράμμασι καταλείπειν, καὶ αὖ ὁ παραδεξάμενος, ὥς τι σαφὲς καὶ βέβαιον ἐκ γραμμάτων ἐσόμενον, πολλῆς ἂν εὐηθείας γέμοι καὶ τῷ ὄντι τὴν Ἄμμωνος μαντείαν ἀγνοοῖ, πλέον τι οἰόμενος εἶναι λόγους γεγραμμένους καὶ τοῦ τὸν εἰδότα ὑπομνῆσαι περὶ ὧν ἂν ᾖ τὰ γεγραμμένα.
— Ὀρθότατα.
Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδρου
Δεινὸν γάρ που, ὦ Φαῖδρε, τοῦτ’ ἔχει γραφὴ καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς ὅμοιον ζωγραφίᾳ. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ ἐκείνης ἔκγονα ἕστηκεν μὲν ὡς ζῶντα· ἐὰν δὲ ἔρῃ τι, σεμνῶς πάνυ σιγᾷ. Ταὐτὸν δὲ καὶ οἱ λόγοι· δόξαις μὲν ἂν ὥς τι φρονοῦντας αὐτοὺς λέγειν· ἐὰν δέ τι ἔρῃ τῶν λεγομένων βουλόμενος μαθεῖν, ἕν τι σημαίνει μόνον ταὐτὸν ἀεί. Ὅταν δὲ ἅπαξ γραφῇ, κυλινδεῖται μὲν πανταχοῦ πᾶς λόγος ὁμοίως παρὰ τοῖς ἐπαΐουσιν.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 4
p. 105The same author from the Phaedrus · 5
“You were right to rebuke me. And I think the matter of writing is as the Theban says.”
“Then anyone who thinks he leaves an art behind in writing, and anyone who receives it believing that something clear and secure will come from writing, would be full of simplicity and would truly fail to understand Ammon’s prophecy, if he thought written discourses were anything more than a means of reminding someone who already knows about the subjects of the writing.”
“Entirely right.”123
The same author from the Phaedrus
“For writing has this strange feature, Phaedrus, and in this it is truly like painting. The offspring of painting stand there as though alive; but if you ask them anything, they remain most solemnly silent. The same is true of discourses: you might think they speak with some understanding, but if you ask about anything they say because you want to learn, they signify just one thing, always the same. Once it is written, every discourse rolls about everywhere, alike among those who understand.”124
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 4 · II.4.18.5–II.4.19
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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.