Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 49 · I.49.6.3–I.49.6.4

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 501 of 879

Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.6.3–I.49.6.4

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Ancient Greek

p. 998

6.3

I.49.6.3

Εἰ γὰρ ἔχει σῶμα, οὔτε λόγον ἔχει οὔτε νόησιν. Πᾶν γὰρ σῶμα ἀνόητον· μεταλαβὸν δὲ οὐσίας τὸ εἶναι ζῷον ἔμπνουν ἔσχε. Καὶ τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα τοῦ σώματος, ὁ δὲ λόγος τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ καλοῦ θεωρητικός ἐστι. Τὸ δὲ αἰσθητικὸν πνεῦμα τῶν φαινομένων κριτικόν ἐστι. Διῄρηται δὲ εἰς τὰς ὀργανικὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ ἔστι τι μέρος αὐτοῦ πνευματικὴ ὅρασις καὶ πνεῦμα ἀκουστικὸν καὶ ὀσφρητικὸν καὶ γευστικὸν καὶ ἁπτικόν. Τοῦτο τὸ πνεῦμα ἀνάλογον γενόμενον διανοίας κρίνει τὸ αἰσθητικόν, εἰ δὲ μή, φαντάζεται μόνον. Τοῦ γὰρ σώματός ἐστι καὶ δεκτικὸν πάντων. Ὁ δὲ λόγος τῆς οὐσίας ἐστὶ τὸ φρονοῦν.

6.4

I.49.6.4

Συνυπάρχει δὲ τῷ λόγῳ ἡ τῶν τιμίων γνῶσις, τῷ δὲ πνεύματι ἡ δόξα. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ περιέχοντος κόσμου τὴν ἐνέργειαν ἔχει, ἡ δὲ ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτῆς.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 999

6.3 · Breath, perception, and thought

I.49.6.3

For if it has a body, it has neither reason nor thought. Every body is without thought; but by sharing in substance it has acquired existence as a breathing living creature. Breath belongs to the body, while the reason of the substance contemplates the beautiful. Perceptive breath judges appearances. It is divided among the senses that operate through organs: one part of it is vision through breath, and there is breath for hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. When this breath comes into correspondence with understanding, it judges what is perceived; otherwise it merely receives appearances. For it belongs to the body and is receptive to everything. But the reason of the substance is that which thinks.¹²⁷⁶

6.4 · Knowledge and opinion

I.49.6.4

Knowledge of things worthy of honor accompanies reason, while opinion accompanies breath. For the one has its activity from the surrounding cosmos, the other from itself.¹²⁷⁷

1276.Pneuma is the breath-like medium of the bodily senses, distinguished from the soul’s logos. “What is perceived” renders to aisthētikon according to its place as the object of judgment; the expression can also denote the perceptive faculty. Phantazetai is rendered “receives appearances,” in contrast to judging them. The printed kalou, “beautiful,” is retained rather than the manuscript’s earlier katholou, “universal,” recorded in the apparatus.

1277.The final contrast is compressed. The neuter “the one” points to pneuma, breath; the feminine “the other” is most naturally taken here as gnōsis, knowledge, though doxa, opinion, is also feminine. The English leaves the pronouns visible. This reading contrasts breath’s dependence on the surrounding world with knowledge’s inner activity.

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.