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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.53.10–I.49.53.11
Ancient Greek
p. 138253.10
Τειρεσίας δὲ ἔχει μὲν λογισμὸν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων, μαντεύεται δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ αὐτὸς περὶ τῶν εἱμαρμένων τοῖς ζῶσι πρὶν πιεῖν τοῦ αἵματος. Οἴεται γὰρ καὶ Ὅμηρος, [καθὰ καὶ πλεῖστοι τῶν μετ᾽ αὐτὸν ὑπέλαβον], ἐν τῷ αἵματι εἶναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὴν περὶ τὰ θνητὰ φρόνησιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ τῶν μετ᾽ αὐτὸν πολλοὶ τοῦτο πιστοῦνται δεικνύντες ὅτι καὶ ὑπερθερμανθὲν ὑπὸ πυρετοῦ καὶ χολῆς ἀφραίνειν ποιεῖ καὶ ἀνοηταίνειν.
53.11
Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τε οὕτω φαίνεται ὡς ὀργάνου πρὸς σύνεσιν τοῦ αἵματος ὄντος λέγειν·
αἵματος ἐν πελάγεσσι τεθραμμένη ἀντιθορόντος, τῇ τε νόημα μάλιστα κυκλίσκεται ἀνθρώποισιν, αἷμα γὰρ ἀνθρώποις περικάρδιόν ἐστι νόημα.Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 138353.10 · Blood and understanding
Tiresias does have reasoning about human affairs, but even he does not prophesy what is destined for the living before drinking the blood. For Homer too thinks, [as most of those after him also supposed], that human understanding of mortal things resides in blood. Many after him confirm this by showing that blood, overheated by fever and bile, causes derangement and loss of understanding.1662
53.11 · Empedocles on thought and heart-blood
Empedocles too appears to speak of blood as an instrument of understanding:
Nourished in seas of blood that rushes back, where especially thought revolves for human beings; for humans, blood around the heart is thought.1663
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.53.10–I.49.53.11
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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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