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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.27.3–I.49.27.4
Ancient Greek
p. 111627.3
Οὔτε ⟨γὰρ⟩ ἐξ ἑνὸς σύσταμα κοινωνίας γένοιτό κα, οὔτε μὰν ἐκ πλειόνων, ὁμοίων δὲ τούτων (ἀνάγκα γάρ, ἐπεὶ τὰ πράγματα διαφέροντά ἐντι, καὶ τὰς ἐν ἁμῖν μοίρας τᾶς ψυχᾶς διαφόρως ἦμεν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶ σώματος ⟨ἅψιος ὄργανα καὶ⟩ ὁράσιος καὶ ἀκοᾶς καὶ γεύσιος καὶ ὀσφράσιος, οὐ γὰρ πάντα ποτὶ πάντα τὰν αὐτὰν ἔχει συναρμογάν),
27.4
οὔτε μὰν ἐκ πλειόνων μὲν καὶ ἀνομοίων, τῶν τυχόντων μέντοι γε, ἀλλὰ τῶν ποττὰν τῶ ὅλω συστάματος ἐκπλάρωσιν καὶ σύνταξιν καὶ συναρμογὰν τευχθέντων· οὐ μόνον δὲ ἐκ πλειόνων καὶ ἀνομοίων καὶ τῶν ἐς τὸ ὅλον καὶ τέλεον τευχθέντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν τούτων οὐκ εἰκαίως καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε συνταχθέντων, ἀλλὰ μετά τινος νόμω καὶ ἔμφρονος ἐπιστασίας.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 111727.3 · A community requires different members
⟨For⟩ a community cannot be constituted from one member, nor indeed from several if they are alike. Since their tasks differ, the portions of soul within us must also differ, as with the body’s ⟨organs of touch and⟩ sight, hearing, taste, and smell; for not everything is equally fitted to everything.1386
27.4 · Fitness, law, and intelligent oversight
Nor can it be constituted from several unlike members taken at random, but only from those fashioned for the completion, ordering, and fitting together of the whole structure. And it requires not merely several unlike members fashioned to form the complete whole, but also that these very members be arranged with some law and intelligent oversight, rather than casually and at random.1387
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.27.3–I.49.27.4
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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.
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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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