MED. 12.25Discipline of assent
George Long · 1862EN · Long
Original · ancient Greek
Leopold · Teubner 1908
Commentary

Five words and a question. Βάλε ἔξω τὴν TERMὑπόληψιν· σέσωσαι — "throw the opinion out: you are saved." The perfect σέσωσαι stands with no connective and no "then": salvation is not a consequence of the throw but the same event named from the other side. There is no interval between the act and the result, and so no room for a "what next."

The verb is a coarse one. βάλλω ἔξω is "to fling out of doors"; in 12.22 the same place is held by ἆρον ("lift it off"), and in 4.7 by ἆρον again. Here the rougher word is chosen: not to remove neatly but to throw it out. The difference is of tone, not of technique.

The question that is the content of the entry. τίς οὖν ὁ κωλύων ἐκβάλλειν; — "who, then, is preventing you from throwing it out?" No answer is given, and none is needed: the answer is the DOGMAdichotomy itself. No one is preventing it — which is why the entry breaks off on a question. Cf. 12.22, where the same position is unfolded: καὶ αὕτη ἐπὶ σοί, "and this is in your power," and 12.26, which lists what exactly is forgotten when one nevertheless fails to throw it out. The governing discipline is assent.

DisciplineDiscipline of assent
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished
Discipline of assent

Original · ancient Greek
Leopold · Teubner 1908
Related2
Commentary

Five words and a question. Βάλε ἔξω τὴν TERMὑπόληψιν· σέσωσαι — "throw the opinion out: you are saved." The perfect σέσωσαι stands with no connective and no "then": salvation is not a consequence of the throw but the same event named from the other side. There is no interval between the act and the result, and so no room for a "what next."

The verb is a coarse one. βάλλω ἔξω is "to fling out of doors"; in 12.22 the same place is held by ἆρον ("lift it off"), and in 4.7 by ἆρον again. Here the rougher word is chosen: not to remove neatly but to throw it out. The difference is of tone, not of technique.

The question that is the content of the entry. τίς οὖν ὁ κωλύων ἐκβάλλειν; — "who, then, is preventing you from throwing it out?" No answer is given, and none is needed: the answer is the DOGMAdichotomy itself. No one is preventing it — which is why the entry breaks off on a question. Cf. 12.22, where the same position is unfolded: καὶ αὕτη ἐπὶ σοί, "and this is in your power," and 12.26, which lists what exactly is forgotten when one nevertheless fails to throw it out. The governing discipline is assent.

DisciplineDiscipline of assent
Record added2026-07-16
Statuspublished