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.49.47.7–I.49.47.8

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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.47.7–I.49.47.8

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Ancient Greek

p. 1352

47.7

I.49.47.7

Πῶς οὖν οὐ σοι πρώτῳ μέτεστι τῆς τιμῆς, ὄντι γεννήτῃ τῶν θεῶν; καὶ γὰρ τοὺς περὶ Ἡρακλέα καὶ Διόνυσον κατιόντας εἰς Ἅιδην πρότερον ἐνθάδε λόγος μυηθῆναι καὶ τὸ θάρσος τῆς ἐκεῖσε πορείας παρὰ τῆς Ἐλευσινίας ἐναύσασθαι.

47.8

I.49.47.8

Ὅσοις δὲ τὸ ζῆν διὰ κακουργημάτων ἠλάθη, ἄγονται πρὸς Ἐρινυῶν εἰς ἔρεβος καὶ χάος διὰ ταρτάρου, ἔνθα χῶρος ἀσεβῶν καὶ Δαναΐδων ὑδρεῖαι ἀτελεῖς καὶ Ταντάλου δίψος καὶ Τιτυοῦ σπλάγχνα αἰωνίως ἐσθιόμενα καὶ γεννώμενα καὶ Σισύφου πέτρος ἀνήνυτος· οὗ τὰ τέρματα αὖθις ἄρχεται [τῶν] πόνων· ἔνθα θηρσὶ περιλιχμώμενοι καὶ δασὶν ἐπιμόνως πυρούμενοι Ποινῶν καὶ πᾶσαν αἰκίαν αἰκιζόμενοι ἀιδίοις τιμωρίαις τρύχονται.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1353

47.7 · Divine kinship and the Eleusinian goddess

I.49.47.7

How, then, should you not have the first share in this honor, being a kinsman of the gods? For Heracles and Dionysus, when descending to Hades, are said to have been initiated here beforehand and to have kindled their courage for the journey there from the Eleusinian goddess.¹⁶³⁰

47.8 · The punishments of the impious

I.49.47.8

But those whose lives were driven through wrongdoing are led by the Erinyes into gloom and chaos through Tartarus. There is the region of the impious, the Danaids’ uncompleted water-carrying, Tantalus’s thirst, Tityus’s entrails forever eaten and regenerated, and Sisyphus’s unending labor with the stone: there the ends [of the] toils begin again. There, licked all over by wild beasts, persistently burned by the torches of the Punishments, and tormented with every torment, they waste away under everlasting penalties.¹⁶³¹

1630.Gennētēs denotes a member of the same kin or clan; it is not translated as “begetter” of the gods. The address now applies the reported account to the dialogue’s addressee. “Kindled” preserves the image in enausasthai. The Greek calls the goddess “the Eleusinian” without giving her name.

1631.The Erinyes are avenging divine powers; Poinai, capitalized here as “Punishments,” are personified agents of requital. The difficult clause about ends beginning again is retained, with its rejected article represented by “[of the].” “Wild beasts” follows thērsi rather than a variant involving fire. The perpetual eating and regeneration of Tityus’s entrails appears in Stobaeus’s text even though the apparatus reports its absence from the parallel Axiochus. Excerpt 47 ends here.

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.