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.49.55.5–I.49.55.7

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 705 of 879

Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.55.5–I.49.55.7

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Ancient Greek

p. 1406

55.5

I.49.55.5

Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐξόδῳ ἔτι κατὰ τὴν δίυγρον ἀναθυμίασιν τὸ πνεῦμα ἔχουσα τεθολωμένον, σκιὰν ἐφέλκεται καὶ βαρεῖται, χωρεῖν σπεύδοντος τοῦ τοιούτου πνεύματος εἰς μυχὸν τῆς γῆς φύσει, ἂν μὴ ἄλλη τις αὐτὸ αἰτία ἀνθέλκῃ. Ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ γεῶδες ὄστρεον περικειμένῃ ἀνάγκη ἐπὶ γῆς ἐνίσχεσθαι, οὕτω καὶ ὑγρὸν πνεῦμα ἐφελκομένῃ εἴδωλον περικεῖσθαι ἀνάγκη.

55.6

I.49.55.6

Ὑγρὸν δὲ ἐφέλκεται, ὅταν συνεχῶς μελετήσῃ ὁμιλεῖν τῇ φύσει, ἧς ἐν ὑγρῷ τὸ ἔργον καὶ ὑπόγειον μᾶλλον.

55.7

I.49.55.7

Ὅταν δὲ μελετήσῃ ἀφίστασθαι φύσεως, αὐγὴ ξηρὰ γίγνεται, ἄσκιος καὶ ἀνέφελος. Ὑγρότης γὰρ ἐν ἀέρι νέφος συνίστησι· ξηρότης δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀτμίδος αὐγὴν ξηρὰν ὑφίστησιν.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1407

55.5 · The weight of the lingering shadow

I.49.55.5

Indeed, even at its departure, if its breath is still clouded by the thoroughly moist exhalation, the soul draws a shadow along with it and is weighed down. Such breath naturally hastens into the earth’s depths, unless some other cause draws it in the opposite direction. Just as a soul clothed in the earthen shell must be held upon the earth, so a soul drawing moist breath along with it must be clothed in an image.¹⁶⁸⁷

55.6 · Habitual attachment to nature

I.49.55.6

It draws moist breath along with it when it has continually practiced consorting with nature, whose activity is in moisture and rather beneath the earth.¹⁶⁸⁸

55.7 · Dry radiance

I.49.55.7

But when it has practiced withdrawing from nature, it becomes a dry radiance, without shadow or cloud. For moisture forms a cloud in air, while dryness brings forth a dry radiance from the vapor.¹⁶⁸⁹

1687.“Departure” is the soul’s exit from the solid body. The “earthen shell” is a bodily covering; the comparison explains how a subtler image can also accompany and burden the soul. The qualification concerning another counteracting cause remains unspecified. The descent belongs literally to the accompanying breath, consistently with the distinction made above.

1688.The adjective “moist” stands without its noun in Greek; “breath” is understood from the preceding sentences. Meletan conveys practice or habitual exercise, here directed toward association with nature. The final “rather beneath the earth” follows the compressed printed wording and does not add an unexpressed comparison.

1689.The final contrast is between moist cloudiness and dry radiance. It completes the account of the soul’s accompanying condition as shaped by its practice and attachment. “From the vapor” follows apo tēs atmidos; the translation leaves the ancient physical imagery intact rather than recasting it as a modern explanation. Excerpt 55 ends here; Plato’s Phaedo follows in excerpt 56.

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.