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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

Stobaeus, Volume I

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 49 · I.49.25a.4–I.49.25a.5

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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.25a.4–I.49.25a.5

Ancient Greek

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25a.4

I.49.25a.4

Ῥητέον δὲ ὡς δύναμις μέρους διήνεγκεν, ὅτι τὸ μὲν μέρος ἐκβέβηκε κατὰ γένος τὸν χαρακτῆρα τοῦ ἄλλου μέρους, αἱ δὲ δυνάμεις περὶ τὸ αὐτὸ στρέφονται γένος. Διὸ τὰ μὲν μέρη παρῃτεῖτο Ἀριστοτέλης ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς, τὰς δὲ δυνάμεις οὐκέτι· τὸ γὰρ ἑτερομερὲς εὐθὺς ὑποκειμένου παραλλαγὴν εἰσάγειν, τὸ δὲ ἑτεροδύναμον καὶ περὶ ἓν ὑποκείμενον ἐνίστασθαι.

25a.5

I.49.25a.5

Λογγῖνος δὲ οὐδὲ τὸ ζῷον πολυμερὲς εἶναι ἀλλ᾽ ἀμερές, πολυδύναμον δέ, τὸ τοῦ Πλάτωνος ἐν τοῖς σώμασι πολυμερῆ φάσκων τὴν ψυχὴν γίγνεσθαι, καθ᾽ ἑαυτὴν οὖσαν ἀμερῆ· ὅτι δὲ οὐ πολυμερής, οὐ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ μονοδύναμος· ἐνδέχεσθαι γὰρ ἓν ἀμερὲς δυνάμεις πλείους ἔχειν.

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Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

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25a.4 · Parts require a different underlying subject

I.49.25a.4

We must explain how a power differs from a part. A part differs in kind from the character of another part, whereas powers concern the same kind. That is why Aristotle rejected parts in the case of the soul, but did not reject powers: having different parts immediately introduces a difference in the underlying subject, whereas having different powers can occur in one underlying subject.1372

25a.5 · Longinus: one thing with many powers

I.49.25a.5

Longinus holds that even the living creature does not have many parts, but is without parts while having many powers. He cites Plato’s saying that soul becomes divided into many parts in bodies, although in itself it is without parts. Because it does not have many parts, it does not follow that it has only one power: a single thing without parts can have several powers.1373

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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.