From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordA pedagogue here is a household attendant and guide responsible for children, not simply a classroom teacher. The role raises questions about care, authority and formation.
- In StobaeusHieronymus criticizes fathers who confuse following and guarding children with leading them well, ending with a quip about the low esteem given to the service.
- In this editionKeep the household and enslaved status visible without endorsing the source’s valuations. Preserve its gap and avoid inventing the omitted positive contrast or an actual appointment.
- A place to readChapter 31 · Excerpt 121 Read the criticism of obedience to attendants and the contrast between following and leading, leaving the printed gap before the Pericles anecdote unreconstructed.
- English renderings
- pedagogue; child’s attendant or guide; supervision of children
Meaning
The paidagōgos is the attendant or guide responsible for a child. The role need not coincide with that of a subject teacher: Iamblichus lists pedagogue and teacher separately among the adult models. “Pedagogue” should therefore not automatically be read in its modern sense of professional educator.
Use in the book
Hieronymus criticizes fathers for entrusting children to barbarian pedagogues and regarding obedience as adequate care. His contrast turns on following a child versus leading the child well. The reported Pericles quip about an injured household slave becoming a new pedagogue exposes the low valuation of the service. It does not establish that Pericles owned that slave, actually appointed him, or that every pedagogue was a rejected laborer. The passage questions how families allocate responsibility for what they value most.
The argument challenges the fathers’ measure of adequate care. Having someone remain close behind a child or prevent straying is not the same task as providing good direction. The source intensifies the criticism by contrasting the value placed on children with the low value placed on their attendants. The closing anecdote mocks that mismatch: a worker’s injury is used to suggest a new pedagogue. It need not describe an appointment that actually followed. The printed gap also prevents the reader from reconstructing the complete positive alternative to mere guarding.
Places to read
- Chapter 31 · Excerpt 1212The child’s attendant is criticized when supervision substitutes for good leadership.
- Chapter 31 · Excerpt 122 · Passage 22Pedagogue and teacher appear as distinct adult models.
- Chapter 31 · Excerpt 110g23456Bad guidance can ruin an exceptionally gifted nature.
Translation in this edition
Retain “pedagogue” with explanation, or use “child’s attendant.” “Tutor” can suggest subject teaching that the local contrast does not require.
παιδαγωγοῖς
Attested. Chapter 31 · Excerpt 121; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 233.
παιδαγωγοῖς καὶ τούτων ἀκούειν κελεύσαντες
παιδαγωγῷ
Attested. Chapter 31 · Excerpt 122 · Passage 2; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 234.
ἐν πατρὶ καὶ μητρὶ καὶ παιδαγωγῷ καὶ διδασκάλῳ
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed pp. 222, 233–234. The related role and service nouns are grouped as a lexical family. The Hieronymus excerpt has a lacuna after its unfinished comparison; the missing ideal is not reconstructed.