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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.58.17–I.49.58.18
Ancient Greek
p. 143658.17
Ἐπεί, εἴ τις αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾽ ἄκρα ἔλθοι ἢ πτηνὸς γενόμενος ἀνάπτοιτο, κατιδεῖν ἀνακύψαντα, ὥσπερ [οἱ] ἐνθάδε οἱ ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης ἰχθύες ἀνακύπτοντες ὁρῶσι τὰ ἐνθάδε, οὕτως ἄν τινα καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖ κατιδεῖν· καί, εἰ ἡ φύσις ἱκανὴ ἦν ἀνασχέσθαι θεωροῦσα, γνῶναι ἂν ὅτι ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθῶς οὐρανὸς καὶ τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς καὶ ἡ ὡς ἀληθῶς γῆ.
58.18
Ἥδε μὲν γὰρ ἡ γῆ καὶ οἱ λίθοι καὶ ἅπας ὁ τόπος ὁ ἐνθάδε διεφθαρμένα ἐστὶ καὶ καταβεβρωμένα, ὥσπερ τὰ ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ ὑπὸ τῆς ἅλμης· καὶ οὔτε φύεται ἄξιον λόγου οὐδὲν ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ, οὔτε τέλειον, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, οὐδέν ἐστι, σήραγγες δὲ καὶ ἄμμος καὶ πηλὸς ἀμήχανος καὶ βόρβοροί εἰσιν, ὅπου ἂν ἡ γῆ ᾖ· καὶ πρὸς τὰ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν ⟨κάλλη κρίνεσθαι οὐδ᾽ ὁπωστιοῦν ἄξια· ἐκεῖνα δὲ αὖ τῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν⟩ πολὺ ἂν ἔτι πλέον φανείη διαφέρειν.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 143758.17 · Rising to see the true earth
“For if someone reached its upper limit or grew wings and flew up, he would lift his head and look out. Just as [the] fish here lift their heads out of the sea and see what is here, so someone would see what is there. And if his constitution were strong enough to endure the sight, he would recognize that there are the true heaven, the true light, and the earth in truth.”1721
58.18 · Our region is worn and corroded
“For this earth, its stones, and the whole region here are spoiled and eaten away, as things in the sea are eaten away by brine. Nothing worth speaking of grows in the sea, and practically nothing is perfect there; there are caverns, sand, endless clay, and mud wherever there is earth. And beside the things in our region, ⟨they are not at all worthy of comparison in beauty; while those things above, in turn, beside the things in our region,⟩ would appear finer by a still far greater degree.”1722
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.58.17–I.49.58.18
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.