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← ExitStobaeus, Volume I

Reading language

Book I Chapter 49

69.16 · Departure from an assigned nature

Isis answered: “A human being, my child, may pass beyond the exercise of judgment; a quadruped may depart from its constraint; a creeping creature may lose its deceitfulness; a swimming creature may disregard timidity; and a flying creature may fall away from its estrangement from human company. So much for the disposition of those above, their descent, and the making of bodies.”¹⁸⁷⁷

69.17 · Varieties of descending souls

“It happens, my child, that certain royal souls are found in each of the kinds and classes just described. Others descend with differing qualities: some fiery, some cold; some proud, some gentle; ⟨some liberal,⟩ some servile; some experienced, some inexperienced; some idle, some active; and some different at different times.”¹⁸⁷⁸

69.18 · Regions and forms of kingship

“This happens because of the position of the places from which souls leap down into embodiment. Those from a royal zone leap down into a royal condition of corresponding character. For there are many forms of kingship: some over souls, some over bodies, some over art, some over knowledge, and others over this or that.”¹⁸⁷⁹

69.19 · Rulers of souls, bodies, and counsel

“How so?” said Horus.

“For example, my child Horus: over the souls of those who have already departed rules Osiris, your father; over bodies, the ruler of each nation; over counsel, the father and guide of all, thrice-greatest Hermes.”¹⁸⁸⁰

69.20 · Medicine, strength, and the arts

“Over medicine rules Asclepius, the son of Hephaestus; over strength and vigor, again Osiris, after whom, my child, you yourself; over philosophy, Arnebeschenis; and over the art of making, again Asclepius, ⟨the one called⟩ Imouthes.”¹⁸⁸¹

69.21 · Universal and particular rule

“In general, my child, if you examine the matter, you will find many rulers over many things, and many holding kingship over many. But the one who rules all, my child, comes from the region above; the one who rules particular things has the rank of the place from which he comes.”¹⁸⁸²

69.22 · The damaged royal comparison

“More royal ⟨indeed . . . . . . of the royal⟩ zone, having obtained it.”¹⁸⁸³

69.23 · Origins and occupations

“⟨Those from the fiery region⟩ become workers and tenders of fire; those from the moist region live among moist things; those from ⟨the⟩ region of knowledge and craft occupy themselves with sciences and arts; those from ⟨the⟩ idle region live idly and aimlessly.”¹⁸⁸⁴

69.24 · The sources above

“The sources of all things carried out on earth through speech and action, my child, are above. They pour their substances down upon us by measure and weight. There is nothing that has not descended from above and does not ascend again in order to descend.”¹⁸⁸⁵

69.25 · Breathing as an illustration

“How, again, do you mean this, mother? Give me an example.”

Isis answered again: “Most holy Nature has placed this clear sign of the returning movement in living beings: the breath we draw down from the air above is the very breath we send upward again, so that we may receive it.”¹⁸⁸⁶

69.26 · The closing of the nostrils

“The nostrils within us, my child, are the artisans of this activity. When they close their own openings that receive the breath, we are no longer here: we have ascended.”¹⁸⁸⁷

69.27 · A question about the mixture

“Other things also accrue to us, greatly renowned child, beyond ⟨the⟩ balanced composition of the mixture.”

“What is this mixture, mother?” Horus asked.¹⁸⁸⁸

69.28 · The vapor linking soul and body

“It is the conjunction and blending of the four elements. From this blending and conjunction a vapor rises, which wraps itself around the soul and courses through ⟨the⟩ body, imparting its own quality to both [that is, to the body and the soul]. In this way arise the differences in the changes of soul and body.”¹⁸⁸⁹

69.29 · An excess of fire

“If fire predominates in the bodily arrangement, the soul, being hot by nature and taking on further heat, becomes more fiery: it makes the creature more active and spirited, and the body keen and readily moved.”¹⁸⁹⁰

69.30 · An excess of air

“If air predominates, the creature becomes light, prone to leap, and unsettled, in both soul and body.”¹⁸⁹¹

69.31 · An excess of water

“If water predominates, the creature becomes, in soul, fluid, adaptable, and readily diffused, well able to come upon other things and adhere to them, because water unites and associates with other things. It settles upon everything: in large quantity it dissolves and encompasses things within itself; in small quantity, sinking into them, it becomes that with which it was mixed.”¹⁸⁹²

69.32 · The weakness of watery bodies

“The bodies, however, because of their flabbiness and looseness, do not achieve firm cohesion. At some slight onset of disease they come apart and gradually lose their own binding structure.”¹⁸⁹³

1877.The examples describe departures from the earlier categories, without saying that all such departures are improvements. To kritikon is the capacity for judgment; anankē, constraint or necessity, refers back to the quadrupeds’ rule of strength. Those above is understood as the souls under discussion.

1878.The supplied liberal souls remain marked, completing the contrast with banausoi, a term associated with mechanical occupations and here with a supposedly servile character. This reflects the dialogue’s hierarchy of qualities. The irregular masculine alloious after feminine allas is retained in Greek; the English follows the list’s clear referent.

1879.The construction with the genitive tēs homoiopathous basilikēs tychēs is difficult; into a royal condition gives a provisional sense without altering the Greek. Diazōma is a belt or zone. The final tōn kai tōn is an indefinite expression, this or that, following the editor’s arrangement of displaced words.

1880.Rules is supplied in English from the preceding discussion of kingship. Apogegonotōn is taken of those who have departed life. Trismegistos is translated thrice-greatest; the title and the description father and guide of all belong to this speech.

1881.The proper names follow the printed forms. Son of renders the patronymic genitive of Hephaestus. The supplied article before Imouthes is marked. Poiētikē may mean productive art or poetry; art of making is provisional. The text does not explain the relation between its two descriptions of Asclepius.

1882.The distinction is between a ruler of all and rulers with limited domains. Taxin, rank, follows the printed correction. The English preserves the somewhat repetitive many rulers over many things rather than adopting the alternative construction suggested in the apparatus.

1883.This clause is damaged. The feminine accusative basilikōteran lacks its noun or construction, while the surviving participle is masculine plural. The editor prints a partial supplement surrounding six points of omission. Both the supplied words and those points are retained; it is not possible to make a complete English sentence without further conjecture.

1884.The initial clause and the two supplied articles are marked. Region is understood from the preceding account. Tropheis, tenders or nourishers, follows the printed correction and refers to maintaining fire. Epirrembōs suggests wandering or drifting without settled purpose.

1885.Logos is rendered speech here because it is paired with ergon, action: the familiar combination of word and deed favors this sense. Ousiai is substances, the things or realities supplied by the sources. The repeated movement upward and downward is the point Horus asks Isis to illustrate next.

1886.Palindromia is movement back or return. The printed ho spōmen, which we draw, follows the editor’s correction. Pneuma here is breath in the example of inhalation and exhalation; later in this discourse the same word also denotes an airy element.

1887.Technitides personifies the nostrils as skilled workers. The passage takes the cessation of breath as a sign of departure from life and uses the same upward language as the preceding cosmological account. The Greek perfect anabebēkamen is have ascended.

1888.The supplied article is marked. Phyrama is a mixture or kneaded compound; systathmia suggests a proportioning or balancing together. The meaning of additions from outside becomes clearer in the later account of changes to the original elemental blend.

1889.The supplied article and rejected explanatory gloss are marked. Atmos is vapor, and anathymiasis or its related verb describes exhalation from a mixture. The passage makes this vapor a carrier of qualities between the elemental blend, the soul, and the body.

1890.The explanation begins from the premise that soul is naturally hot. Thymikon can indicate spirit, anger, or strong impulse; spirited preserves that range. The account distinguishes the temperament of the living creature from the quickness and mobility of its body.

1891.Anedraston is without a fixed seat or resting place, hence unsettled. This description links the mobility assigned to air with both psychological and bodily movement; it does not introduce a separate argument about the soul’s origin.

1892.Euphyes, naturally well disposed or apt, is rendered adaptable in this comparison. The corrected euroun, flowing freely, is retained. The irregular katadysan, sinking, follows the printed text. The explanation contrasts the effects of a large and a small quantity of water.

1893.The printed negative ouk is retained; the apparatus records variation here. Perisphinxis is tight binding or compression. The explanation contrasts the soul’s adaptability in the preceding passage with the bodily weakness attributed to the same predominance of water.