From the book
Stobaeus, Volume II
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe syllable figures as an articulated unit contrasted with its elements. The passage uses that contrast to connect expressibility, true opinion and the possibility of giving an account.
- In StobaeusThe reported account makes elements perceptible but without an account, while syllables can be known and expressed; adding an account distinguishes knowledge from true opinion alone.
- In this editionKeep the claim within the philosophical argument being reported. The excerpt does not by itself establish a universally accepted linguistic theory about every element and syllable.
- A place to readChapter 4 · Excerpt 16 Read the contrast between elements and syllables together with the account added to true opinion, where being right about something is distinguished from knowing it.
- English renderings
- syllable; combination of letters
Meaning
Sullabē names a syllable in the linguistic comparison. The same Greek noun has another use represented by the musical-fourth article in the Volume One companion; context must decide the meaning.
Use in the book
The Theaetetus excerpt contrasts elements with syllables while presenting an account of knowledge and explanation. The elements are described as perceptible but without an account and unknowable; syllables, by contrast, can be known, expressed and held in true opinion. The comparison does work within a philosophical proposal about what an account contributes. It should not be detached as a practical instruction that alphabetic letters are unteachable, or read as a claim about musical intervals. The reader needs both the linguistic image and the epistemological question it is being made to serve.
The elements-and-syllables comparison helps articulate a difference between perception, true opinion and knowledge. The paragraph allows a soul to be right about an object while lacking the ability to give and receive an account of it. Syllables appear on the expressible side of that contrast, unlike the elements as described in the reported theory. The point is not simply that a syllable contains more sounds. Its role concerns whether an articulated object can support the explanatory relation that the passage makes necessary for knowledge.
Places to read
- Chapter 4 · Excerpt 162The contrast between elements and syllables supports a proposed account of knowledge.
Translation in this edition
Syllable is the appropriate rendering here. Do not use the musical sense merely because the same headword can designate a consonant interval elsewhere.
συλλαβὰς
Attested. Chapter 4 · Excerpt 16; Wachsmuth II, printed p. 31.
τὰς δὲ συλλαβὰς γνωστάς τε καὶ ῥητὰς καὶ ἀληθεῖ δόξῃ δοξαστάς
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume II, printed p. 31. The excerpt presents a position discussed within the Theaetetus. This local report is not by itself evidence that every claim in the proposal is the dialogue’s final conclusion.