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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 777 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.69.7–I.49.69.9
Ancient Greek
p. 155069.7
Παρεστᾶσι δὲ δύο ἐνέργειαι καὶ αὐτῇ, μνήμη καὶ ἐμπειρία· καὶ ἡ μὲν μνήμη ἔργον ἔχει τοῦτο, ὅπως ἡ Φύσις τηρῇ καὶ περικρατῇ τοῦ τε ἑκάστου τύπου ἐξ ἀρχῆς καταβεβλημένου καὶ τοῦ φυράματος τοῦ ἄνω γίγνηται *·
69.8
ἡ δὲ ἐμπειρία, ὅπως πρὸς ἀνάλογον ἑκάστης τῶν καταβαινουσῶν ψυχῶν εἰς τὸ σωματισθῆναι καὶ τὸ πλάσμα [ἐνεργῆ καὶ] γένηται, καὶ ταῖς μὲν ὀξέσι τῶν ψυχῶν ὀξέα γένηται καὶ τὰ σώματα, ταῖς δὲ βραδέσι βραδέα, ταῖς δὲ ἐνεργέσιν ἐνεργῆ καὶ ταῖς νωθραῖς νωθρὰ καὶ ταῖς δυναταῖς δυνατὰ καὶ ταῖς δολίαις δόλια, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἑκάσταις κατὰ τὸ εἰκός.
69.9
Οὐ γὰρ ἀσκόπως πτηνὰ μὲν ἐπτίλωσε, λογικὰ δὲ περισσαῖς καὶ ἀκριβεστέραις αἰσθήσεσιν ἐκόσμησε, τετραπόδων δὲ τὰ μὲν κέρασι, τὰ δὲ ὀδοῦσι, τὰ δὲ ὄνυξι καὶ ὁπλαῖς ἐκαρτέρωσε, τὰ δὲ ἑρπετὰ εὐχαίτοις σώμασι καὶ εὐυποχωρήτοις ἐμαλάκυνε,
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 155169.7 · Memory and the original pattern
“Two powers attend her also, memory and experience. Memory has this task: that Nature should preserve and keep hold of the pattern originally established for each, and become, of the mixture above *.”1868
69.8 · Experience fits body to soul
“Experience ensures that the fashioned body too should be [active and] proportioned to each soul descending into embodiment: for keen souls the bodies too become keen; for slow souls, slow; for active souls, active; for sluggish souls, sluggish; for strong souls, strong; for deceitful souls, deceitful; and, in a word, for each as is fitting.”1869
69.9 · The equipment of living creatures
“For Nature did not act without purpose when she feathered flying creatures, furnished rational creatures with abundant and more exact senses, strengthened some quadrupeds with horns, others with teeth, and others with claws and hooves, and softened creeping creatures with well-haired and readily yielding bodies.”1870
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.69.7–I.49.69.9
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.
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.