From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe phrase names a general course of learning regarded as preparation for philosophy. Its use does not itself supply a fixed list of required subjects.
- In StobaeusCrantor uses an initiation comparison to insist on prior preparation; Xenocrates explains a related function through the soul’s softening and the need for philosophical handles.
- In this editionGeneral studies or general course of studies keeps the preparatory breadth. Avoid importing a later standardized curriculum or identifying the educational analogy with a ritual itself.
- A place to readChapter 31 · Excerpt 27 Read Crantor’s two parallel exclusions: the greater mysteries do not precede the lesser, and philosophy does not precede working through the general course of studies.
- English renderings
- general studies; preparatory course of studies
Meaning
The phrase identifies a general course of learning treated as preparation for philosophy. The substantive adjective can occur without mathēmata, whose meaning is then understood from the educational context. The witnesses do not give a fixed list of subjects.
Use in the book
Crantor compares arriving at philosophy before this preparation with initiation into the greater mysteries before the lesser. The analogy concerns order and readiness; it does not identify philosophical study with the ritual itself. In the Xenocrates anecdote, someone lacking the general studies has no “handles” for philosophy: these studies must first soften the soul. Together, the sayings make preparation an active formation of capacity, not simply a collection of credentials. Neither supplies grounds for importing a later standardized curriculum or requiring exactly the same subjects from every speaker in the anthology.
Crantor’s comparison makes order and readiness central. Merely arriving at a higher subject does not remove the need for prior work. The repeated structure joins an initiation sequence to an educational sequence without saying that philosophy is literally the same ceremony. Nor does the fragment enumerate the preparatory disciplines or explain how long each should take. Its force is the demand for preparation, not a complete syllabus. The Xenocrates anecdote adds an image of capacity by asking what will let philosophical study take hold.
Places to read
- Chapter 31 · Excerpt 272Crantor presents general studies as prior preparation for philosophy.
- Chapter 31 · Excerpt 1112Xenocrates explains their function with handles and softening images.
Translation in this edition
“General studies” or “general course of studies” keeps the preparatory breadth without asserting a prescribed modern curriculum.
ἐγκυκλίων μαθημάτων
Attested. Chapter 31 · Excerpt 111; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 228.
οὐδενὸς τῶν ἐγκυκλίων μαθημάτων μετειληφώς
ἐγκυκλίοις
Attested. Chapter 31 · Excerpt 27; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 206.
πρὶν ἐν τοῖς ἐγκυκλίοις διαπονηθῆναι.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed pp. 206, 228. The nominal phrase is justified by the genitive phrase in the Xenocrates body. The Crantor witness has the adjective used substantivally; no absent subject list is supplied.