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.49.44.23–I.49.44.24

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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.44.23–I.49.44.24

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Ancient Greek

p. 1260

44.23

I.49.44.23

καὶ λαβὼν εὖ καὶ καλῶς τὸν ζῳδιακὸν συμφώνως ταῖς ψυχικαῖς κινήσεσι διέταξε κόσμον, πρὸς τοῖς ἀνθρωποειδέσι τῶν ζῳδιακῶν τὰ ἑξῆς ἀπαρτίσας οἷον ζῳδίοις, καὶ τὰς πανούργους ἐχαρίσατο δυνάμεις καὶ πάντεχνον πνεῦμα γεννητικὸν τῶν εἰς ἀεὶ μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι καθολικῶς πάντων.

44.24

I.49.44.24

Καὶ ἀπέστη ὑποσχόμενος τοῖς ὁρατοῖς ἔργοις αὐτῶν τὸ ἀόρατον πνεῦμα ἐπιζεῦξαι οὐσίαν τε ὁμογονίας ἑκάστῳ, ὅπως αὐτῷ [αὐτοῖς] ἕτερα γεννᾷ ὅμοια αὐτά τε οὐκέτι ἀνάγκην ἔχουσιν ἄλλο τι ποιεῖν ⟨ἢ⟩ ἃ ἔφθησαν ἐργάσασθαι.”

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1261

44.23 · The zodiac and generative powers

I.49.44.23

Taking the zodiacal order in hand, he arranged it well and beautifully in accordance with the movements of souls. Beside the humanlike zodiacal figures he completed the succeeding ones as figures of living creatures, and bestowed powers capable of every work, together with an all-skilled breath capable of generating absolutely everything that was ever to come into being.¹⁵³⁴

44.24 · A promise of continuing generation

I.49.44.24

He withdrew, promising to join invisible breath to their visible works, and to each a substance of common generation, so that it might beget others like itself [themselves], and they would no longer have any need to make anything other ⟨than⟩ what they had already produced.”¹⁵³⁵

1534.Kosmos here is the zodiacal arrangement or order. The difficult phrase about completing the succeeding figures is translated provisionally; the printed oion, “as” or “as it were,” remains represented. Panourgos can mean unscrupulous in other contexts, but here stands beside pantechnos and describes comprehensive productive ability. Pneuma is rendered “breath”; the recipients of the gifts are not explicitly restated in the clause.

1535.The visible works and invisible breath follow the printed correction; the transmitted alternative reverses the latter adjective. Homogonia suggests shared origin or like generation, here linked to reproduction. The singular “it” and subsequent plural “they” follow the shifting construction; the printed neuter auta most naturally points to the works, although the activity of making might suggest their makers. The English keeps the plural without settling that difficulty. The rejected plural pronoun and the supplied comparative conjunction remain marked. This closes Isis’ present speech before Horus asks a question.

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.