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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.49.53.3–I.49.53.4

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 690 of 879

Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.53.3–I.49.53.4

Ancient Greek

p. 1376

53.3

I.49.53.3
Σοὶ δ᾽ οὐ θέσφατόν ἐστι, διοτρεφὲς ὦ Μενέλαε, Ἄργει ἐν ἱπποβότῳ θανέειν καὶ πότμον ἐπισπεῖν· ἀλλά σ᾽ Ἠλύσιον πεδίον καὶ πείρατα γαίης ἀθάνατοι πέμψουσιν, ὅθι ξανθὸς Ῥαδάμανθυς· τῇ περ ῥηίστη βιοτὴ πέλει ἀνθρώποισιν, οὐ νιφετὸς οὔτ᾽ ἂρ χειμὼν πολὺς οὔτε ποτ᾽ ὄμβρος· ἀλλ᾽ αἰεὶ Ζεφύροιο λιγὺ πνείοντος ἀήτας Ὠκεανὸς ἀνίησιν, ἀναψύχειν ⟨ἀνθρώπους⟩.

53.4

I.49.53.4

Τούτοις μὲν οὖν καὶ τὰ σώματα παρεῖναι. Τρίτον δὲ τόπον λέγει ὃν ψυχῶν τοῦ σώματος τούτου ἀπολυθεισῶν ὑπείληφεν εἶναι τὸν ἐν Ἅιδου, ταύτας δὲ εὐθὺς μὲν χωρεῖν εἰς Ἅιδου, διατρίβειν δὲ τὰς μὲν τῶν ἀτάφων ἔξω τοῦ Ἀχέροντος κατὰ τὰ ἄλση καὶ τὸν λειμῶνα τῆς Περσεφόνης, ἔσω περάσαι κωλυομένας· τὰς δὲ τῶν ταφέντων χωρεῖν ἐντός, εἰ μὴ εἶεν κολάσεως ἄξιαι· εἰ δὲ μή, κἂν ταφῇ τὰ σώματα, ὁμοίως εἴργεσθαι τοῦ ἔνδον.

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Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1377

53.3 · Menelaus and the Elysian Plain

I.49.53.3

For you, Menelaus nurtured by Zeus, it is not ordained to die in horse-pasturing Argos and meet your doom. The immortals will send you to the Elysian Plain, to earth’s boundaries, where fair-haired Rhadamanthys dwells. There human beings have the easiest life: no snow, no great winter storm, and never rain; Ocean always sends up breezes of the clear-blowing West Wind, to refresh ⟨human beings⟩.1655

53.4 · Burial and the crossing of Acheron

I.49.53.4

These, then, have their bodies with them too. He speaks of a third region, the one in Hades, which he supposed to belong to souls released from this body. They go at once to Hades, but the souls of the unburied remain outside Acheron, among Persephone’s groves and meadow, prevented from crossing within. Those of the buried pass inside, unless they deserve punishment; otherwise, even if their bodies are buried, they are likewise excluded from the interior.1656

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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.