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.49.45.15–I.49.45.16

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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.45.15–I.49.45.16

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Ancient Greek

p. 1330

45.15

I.49.45.15

Οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς. Ἔχει γὰρ καὶ αὕτη ἴδια περιβόλαια ἀσώματα, καθὸ καὶ αὐτὴ ἀσώματός ἐστι. Τὰ δὲ περιβόλαια ταῦτα ἀέρες εἰσίν, οἱ ἐν ἡμῖν. Ὅταν οὗτοι ὦσι λεπτοὶ καὶ ἀραιοὶ καὶ διαυγεῖς, τότε συνετὴ ἡ ψυχή ἐστιν· ὅταν δὲ τοὐναντίον πυκνοὶ καὶ παχεῖς καὶ τεθολωμένοι, τότε ὡς ἐν χειμῶνι ἐπὶ μακρὸν οὐ βλέπει, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα ὅσα παρὰ ποσὶ κεῖται.”

45.16

I.49.45.16

Καὶ εἶπεν Ὧρος· “Διὰ τίνα οὖν αἰτίαν, ὦ τεκοῦσα, οἱ ἔξω τῆς ἱερωτάτης ἡμῶν χώρας ἄνθρωποι ταῖς διανοίαις οὐκ ὄντως εἰσὶ συνετοί, ὡς οἱ ἡμέτεροι;” Καὶ εἶπεν Ἶσις· “Ἡ γῆ μέσον τοῦ παντὸς ὑπτία κεῖται καὶ κεῖται ὥσπερ ἄνθρωπος οὐρανὸν βλέπουσα, μεμερισμένη δὲ καθ᾽ ὅσα μέρη ὁ ἄνθρωπος μελίζεται· ἐμβλέπει δ᾽ οὐρανῷ καθάπερ πατρὶ ἰδίῳ, ὅπως ταῖς ἐκείνου μεταβολαῖς καὶ αὐτὴ τὰ ἴδια συμμεταβάλλῃ.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1331

45.15 · The soul’s airy coverings

I.49.45.15

So it is with the soul. She too has her own incorporeal coverings, since she herself is incorporeal. These coverings are the airs within us. When they are thin, loose in texture, and clear, the soul is intelligent; when, on the contrary, they are dense, thick, and clouded, she cannot see far, as in a storm, but only what lies at her feet.”¹⁶⁰⁸

45.16 · Horus asks about Egypt’s understanding

I.49.45.16

Horus said, “For what reason, then, mother, are the people outside our most sacred country not truly intelligent in their thinking, as our own people are?” Isis replied: “Earth lies upon her back at the center of the universe, lying like a human being with her gaze upon heaven, divided into as many parts as the human being is divided. She looks upon heaven as upon her own father, so that, as he changes, she too may change her own conditions in concert.¹⁶⁰⁹

1608.The text calls the coverings incorporeal and then identifies them as the airs within us; the translation preserves both descriptions. The plural aeres is not replaced with a single technical “spirit.” The comparison extends the eye’s clarity and obscurity to understanding. Cheimōn can denote stormy or wintry weather; the close-at-hand objects contrast with long-range vision.

1609.The most sacred country is Egypt within this dialogue of Isis and Horus. Horus’s question asserts the intellectual superiority of its inhabitants; Isis’s answer develops that claim through a symbolic geography. The printed ontōs means “truly,” retained rather than the apparatus’s proposed houtōs, “so.” The repeated “lies” and the corrected clause about bodily divisions remain represented. These are claims within the text, not comparative findings about peoples.

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.