Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Swipe or use the arrow keys.
Ancient Greek Page · Branch 43 of 879
Book I Chapter 1 · I.1.34c–I.1.35
Ancient Greek
p. 8234 ⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩ (γʹ)
τύπους τε τοσούτους ἀφ’ οὕτω πολλῶν καὶ ποικίλων πραγμάτων ἐν τῇ σαυτοῦ ψυχῇ φυλάττεις καὶ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν κινούμενος εἰς ἐπινοίας ὁμοειδεῖς ἐμπίπτεις τοῖς πρώτοις τετυπωκόσι, τέχνας τε ἄλλας ἐπ’ ἄλλαις καὶ μνήμας ἀπὸ μυρίων πραγμάτων διασῴζεις· ὁ δὲ θεὸς οὐχ οἷός τέ ἐστι πάντα ἐφορᾶν καὶ πᾶσι συμπαρεῖναι καὶ ἀπὸ πάντων τινὰ ἴσχειν διάδοσιν; Ἀλλὰ φωτίζειν μὲν οἷός τέ ἐστιν ὁ ἥλιος τηλικοῦτον μέρος τοῦ παντός, ὀλίγον δὲ τὸ ἀφώτιστον ἀπολείπεται, ὅσον οἷόν τε ἐπέχεσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς σκιᾶς, ἣν ἡ γῆ ποιεῖ· ὁ δὲ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον αὐτὸν πεποιηκὼς καὶ περιάγων, μέρος ὄντ’ αὐτοῦ μικρὸν ὡς πρὸς τὸ ὅλον, οὗτος δὲ οὐ δύναται πάντων αἰσθάνεσθαι;
35 Ἰαμβλίχου πρὸς Ποιμένιον
Οἱ θεοὶ τὴν εἱμαρμένην συνέχοντες διὰ παντὸς ἐπανορθοῦνται· ἡ δ’ ἐπανόρθωσις αὐτῶν ποτὲ μὲν ἐλάττωσιν κακῶν, ποτὲ δὲ παραμυθίαν, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ ἀναίρεσιν ἀπεργάζεται· ἀφ’ οὗ δὴ διακοσμεῖται ἡ εἱμαρμένη τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς, διακοσμουμένη δὲ οὐχ ὑποφαίνεται πᾶσα πρὸς τὴν ἄτακτον φύσιν τῆς γενέσεως. Οὐκοῦν ἔτι μᾶλλον σῴζεται ἡ πεπρωμένη διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης ἐπανορθώσεως καὶ τὸ παρατρέπον αὐτῆς μένει κατὰ τὴν ἄτρεπτον τῶν θεῶν ἀγαθότητα συνεχόμενον, διότι οὐκ ἐᾷ ὑπορρεῖν εἰς τὴν ἄτακτον πλημμέλειαν. Τούτων δὴ οὕτως ἐχόντων τό τε ἀγαθοειδὲς τῆς προνοίας τό τε αὐτεξούσιον τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ πάντα τὰ κάλλιστα διασῴζεται, τῇ βουλήσει τῶν θεῶν συνυπάρχοντα.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 1
p. 8334 ⟨The same author⟩ (3)
“You preserve in your soul so many impressions from so many varied things; moved by them, you arrive at conceptions resembling the things that first made those impressions. You retain one skill after another and memories of countless things. Yet God cannot observe everything, be present with everything, and receive some communication from everything?
“The sun can illuminate so great a portion of the universe, leaving only a little unlit—what is covered by the shadow the earth casts. But the one who made and guides the sun itself, a small part of him in comparison with the whole: is he unable to perceive everything?”
35 Iamblichus, from the letter to Poemenius
The gods, holding fate together, continually set it right. Their correction sometimes lessens evils, sometimes brings relief, and at times even removes them. Fate is thereby adorned with good things; thus ordered, it does not reveal itself in its entirety to the disorderly nature of coming-to-be.
Destiny, then, is preserved all the more through this correction. Its tendency to deviate remains held in check by the gods’ undeviating goodness, which does not allow it to slip into disorderly disharmony. This being so, the good character of providence, the soul’s self-determination, and all the finest things are preserved, existing together with the will of the gods.84
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 1 · I.1.34c–I.1.35
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Stobaeus gathered Greek philosophy and poetry for his son Septimius. Volume I presents the dedication testimony, On Arithmetic, Book I through chapter 60, and the ancient contents of all four books. This complete bilingual edition includes an introduction and 2,117 explanatory notes.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek follows Curt Wachsmuth’s 1884 Volume I, checked against the supplied scan. Gaps, lost-chapter headings, and uncertain attributions remain visible. Chapter 2 includes a labeled proposed reconstruction. The appendix outlines Books I–IV; the full texts of Books II–IV are outside this volume. Reader pages preserve the companion PDF’s numbering.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the Greek. Prose and verse retain their distinct forms, with mixed passages preserving their quoted verse. Every passage is paired with its Greek and identified by the edition’s reference number. All 2,117 notes remain linked to their passages, with continuous numbering across the introduction and text.
Rights
Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 printing are in the public domain. The independent English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The complete supplied edition is available as PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown. The PDF retains the fixed page locations used by the companion lexicon.