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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.14.1–I.49.14.2
Ancient Greek
p. 105814.1 · Ἐν ταὐτῷ
Ἐν ταὐτῷ.
Ὁ οὖν Σωκράτης συχνὸν χρόνον ἐπισχὼν καὶ πρὸς αὑτόν τι σκεψάμενος, Οὐ φαῦλον πρᾶγμα, ἔφη, ὦ Κέβης, ζητεῖς· ὅλως γὰρ δεῖ περὶ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς τὴν αἰτίαν διαπραγματεύσασθαι. Ἐγὼ οὖν σοι δίειμι περὶ αὐτῶν, ἂν βούλῃ, τά γ᾽ ἐμὰ πάθη· ἔπειτα ἐάν τί σοι χρήσιμον φαίνηται ὧν ἂν λέγω, πρὸς τὴν πειθὼ περὶ ὧν λέγεις χρήσῃ. - Ἀλλὰ μήν, ἔφη ὁ Κέβης, βούλομαί γε. - Ἄκουε τοίνυν ὡς ἐροῦντος.
14.2
Ἐγὼ γάρ, ἔφη, ὦ Κέβης, νέος ὢν θαυμαστῶς ὡς ἐπεθύμησα ταύτης τῆς σοφίας, ἣν δὴ καλοῦσι περὶ φύσεως ἱστορίαν· ὑπερήφανον γάρ μοι ἐδόκει εἶναι εἰδέναι τὰς αἰτίας ἑκάστου, διὰ τί γίγνεται ἕκαστον καὶ διὰ τί ἀπόλλυται καὶ διὰ τί ἔστι· καὶ πολλάκις ἄνω κάτω μετέβαλλον σκοπῶν πρῶτον τὰ τοιάδε· ἆρ᾽ ἐπειδὰν τὸ θερμὸν καὶ τὸ ψυχρὸν σηπεδόνα τινὰ λάβῃ, ὥς τινες ἔλεγον, τότε δὴ τὰ ζῷα συστρέφεται·
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 105914.1 · Plato: a question about causes
In the same work.
Socrates paused for a considerable time and considered something within himself. “What you are asking is no small matter, Cebes,” he said. “We must examine comprehensively the cause of coming into being and passing away. So, if you wish, I will recount my own experiences concerning these things. Then, if anything I say seems useful to you, you can use it to reach conviction about the matters you are discussing.”
“I certainly wish it,” said Cebes.
“Listen, then: I will tell you.”1328
14.2 · The attraction of inquiry into nature
“When I was young, Cebes,” he said, “I had an extraordinary desire for that wisdom which they call inquiry into nature. It seemed to me a magnificent thing to know the causes of each thing: why it comes into being, why it perishes, and why it exists. I often shifted this way and that, first examining questions like these: is it when the hot and the cold undergo some kind of putrefaction, as certain people said, that living creatures take shape?”1329
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.14.1–I.49.14.2
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.
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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.