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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 84 of 879
Book I Chapter 4 · I.4.8c
Ancient Greek
p. 1648 Ἑρμοῦ πρὸς τὸν υἱόν (γʹ)
Ἡ μὲν οὖν νοητὴ οὐσία, πρὸς τῷ θεῷ γενομένη, ἑαυτῆς ἐξουσίαν ἔχει καὶ τοῦ σῴζειν ἕτερον, αὐτὴν σῴζουσα, ἐπεὶ γ’ αὐτὴ ἡ οὐσία ὑπὸ ἀνάγκην οὐκ ἔστιν· ὑπολειφθεῖσα δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ αἱρεῖται τὴν σωματικὴν φύσιν καὶ ἡ αἵρεσις αὐτῆς κατὰ πρόνοιαν [τοῦτο δὲ τοῦ κόσμου] γίνεται· τὸ δὲ ἄλογον πᾶν κινεῖται πρός τινα λόγον· καὶ ὁ μὲν λόγος κατὰ πρόνοιαν, τὸ δὲ ἄλογον κατ’ ἀνάγκην, τὰ δὲ περὶ τὸ σῶμα συμβεβηκότα καθ’ εἱμαρμένην. Καὶ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος τῶν κατὰ πρόνοιαν καὶ ⟨κατ’⟩ ἀνάγκην καὶ καθ’ εἱμαρμένην.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 4
p. 1658 Hermes, to his son (3)
“Intelligible substance, then, when it has come to be with God, has authority over itself and the power to preserve another, while preserving itself, since that substance itself is not subject to necessity. But when left behind by God, it chooses bodily nature, and its choice takes place according to providence [and this of the cosmos].178 Everything irrational moves toward some rational principle. The rational principle is according to providence; the irrational, according to necessity; and the properties incidental to body, according to fate. This is the account of what is according to providence, ⟨according to⟩ necessity, and according to fate.”179
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 4 · I.4.8c
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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.
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.
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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.