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.49.58.49–I.49.58.51

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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.58.49–I.49.58.51

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Ancient Greek

p. 1462

58.49

I.49.58.49

Οἱ δὲ δὴ ἂν δόξωσι διαφερόντως πρὸς τὸ ὁσίως βιῶναι, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τῶνδε μὲν τῶν τόπων ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐλευθερούμενοί τε καὶ ἀπαλλαττόμενοι ὥσπερ δεσμωτηρίων, ἄνω δὲ εἰς τὴν καθαρὰν οἴκησιν ἀφικνούμενοι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οἰκιζόμενοι.

58.50

I.49.58.50

Τούτων δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ φιλοσοφίᾳ ἱκανῶς καθηράμενοι ἄνευ τε σωμάτων ζῶσι τὸ παράπαν εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον καὶ εἰς οἰκήσεις ἔτι τούτων καλλίους ἀφικνοῦνται, ἃς οὔτε ῥᾴδιον δηλῶσαι οὔτε ὁ χρόνος ἱκανὸς ἐν τῷ παρόντι.

58.51

I.49.58.51

Ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν χρὴ ἕνεκα ὧν διεληλύθαμεν, ὦ Σιμμία, πᾶν ποιεῖν, ὥστε ἀρετῆς καὶ φρονήσεως ἐν τῷ βίῳ μετασχεῖν· καλὸν γὰρ τὸ ἆθλον καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς μεγάλη.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1463

58.49 · Release to the pure dwelling

I.49.58.49

“Those judged outstanding in living reverently are the ones released and freed from these regions within the earth as from prisons. They go upward to the pure dwelling and settle upon the earth’s surface.”¹⁷⁵³

58.50 · Those sufficiently purified by philosophy

I.49.58.50

“Among these, those who have been sufficiently purified by philosophy live altogether without bodies for the time to come and reach dwellings more beautiful still. These are neither easy to describe, nor is there enough time at present.”¹⁷⁵⁴

58.51 · The prize and the hope

I.49.58.51

“But for the sake of what we have discussed, Simmias, we must do everything we can to share in virtue and understanding during life. For the prize is noble, and the hope is great.”¹⁷⁵⁵

1753.The Greek opening is elliptical; English understands “outstanding” from diapherontōs, “exceptionally.” The edition’s desmōtēriōn, “prisons,” is retained. The surface here is the true earth described earlier, distinguished from the hollows where ordinary human life takes place.

1754.The passage distinguishes the pure upper dwelling from the still finer destination of those purified by philosophy. Their future life is explicitly without bodies. Socrates declines to describe the further dwellings, so no additional geography has been supplied here.

1755.The story returns to its practical purpose: cultivating aretē and phronēsis, “virtue and understanding.” Athlon is the prize of a contest. The assertion of a great hope leads directly to the qualification about certainty in the next sentence.

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.