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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.30.2
Ancient Greek
p. 113630.2
Τοῦ διψῶντος ἡ ψυχή, καθ᾽ ὅσον διψῇ, οὐ βούλεται ἄλλο τι ἢ πιεῖν, καὶ τούτου ὀρέγεται καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦτο ὁρμᾷ. - Δῆλον δή. - Οὐκοῦν εἴ ποτέ τι αὐτὴν ἀνθέλκει διψῶσαν, ἕτερόν τι ἂν ἐν αὐτῇ εἴη αὐτοῦ τοῦ διψῶντος καὶ ἄγοντος ὥσπερ θηρίον ἐπὶ τὸ πιεῖν; Οὐ γὰρ δή, φαμέν, τό γε αὐτὸ τῷ αὐτῷ ἑαυτοῦ περὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἅμα τἀναντία πράττοι. - Οὐ γὰρ οὖν. - Ὥσπερ γε, οἶμαι, τοῦ τοξότου οὐ καλῶς ἔχει λέγειν, ὅτι αὐτοῦ ἅμα αἱ χεῖρες τὸ τόξον ἀπωθοῦνταί τε καὶ προσέλκονται, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι ἄλλη μὲν ἡ ἀπωθοῦσα χείρ, ἑτέρα δὲ ἡ προσαγομένη. - Παντάπασι μὲν οὖν, ἔφη.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 113730.2 · Thirst, resistance, and the archer
“The soul of someone who is thirsty, in so far as it is thirsty, wants only to drink, desires this, and is impelled toward it.”
“Clearly.”
“Then if something ever pulls it back when it is thirsty, there would be something in it different from the thirsty element that drives it like a beast toward drinking. For, we say, the same thing cannot at the same time do contrary things with the same part of itself in relation to the same object.”
“Indeed not.”
“Just as, I think, it is inaccurate to say that an archer’s hands push the bow away and pull it toward him at the same time. One should say that one hand pushes it away and another draws it toward him.”
“Quite so,” he said.1404
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.30.2
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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.
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.