From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe named gardens supply an image for attractive but quickly fading writing. In this witness their fleeting charm matters more than details of cultivation or ritual.
- In StobaeusThe anecdote attributes to Plato a comparison of much writing by certain people with plants whose charm lasts only a day before they wither.
- In this editionRetain the named image and its restrictions: most of what some people write. Do not reconstruct a ritual timetable or condemn all writing without exception.
- A place to readChapter 6 · Excerpt 1 Read the limited object of the comparison and its movement from momentary charm to withering, rather than treating the saying as a rejection of every written work.
- English renderings
- gardens of Adonis; short-lived plantings
Meaning
The phrase names the gardens invoked in a comparison of writing. In this witness their defining feature is the fleeting charm followed by easy withering, not a detailed account of their cultivation.
Use in the book
Plato is reported to have compared most of what some people write to these gardens. Their attractiveness lasts only a day in the saying, after which they quickly fade. The qualification matters: the report targets much of certain writers’ production rather than condemning all writing without exception. Its place after discussions of speech, letters and poetic inspiration makes durability of intellectual benefit a relevant question. The earlier praise of writing as a physician for the soul provides a contrasting assessment within the anthology, without forcing the two excerpts into one speaker’s doctrine.
The saying’s brevity makes its qualifications easy to lose. The criticism applies to most of what certain people write, not to everything written by everyone. Its measure is also temporal: initial attraction does not endure. The comparison can direct attention to whether writing retains its benefit after its first charm passes, but it does not explain the causes of that failure. No details about the gardens’ cultivation or religious setting are needed to preserve the contrast printed here.
Places to read
- Chapter 6 · Excerpt 12The reported comparison criticizes writing whose charm quickly fades.
- Chapter 4 · Excerpt 102A contrasting fragment values writing as a physician for the soul.
Translation in this edition
Retain the named gardens and explain their fleeting quality. Replacing them with a modern disposable object would lose the image used by the source.
Ἀδωνιακοῖς κήποις
Attested. Chapter 6 · Excerpt 1; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 37.
τοῖς Ἀδωνιακοῖς κήποις εἴκασεν
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed pp. 29, 37. This is an anecdotal report about Plato, not a direct quotation assigned here to a dialogue. The article adds no botanical timetable or reconstructed ritual procedure beyond the comparison.