Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.60.1–I.49.60.2
Ancient Greek
p. 146860.1
Τοῦ αὐτοῦ.
Τὰ δὲ παρ᾽ Ὁμήρου περὶ τῆς Κίρκης λεγόμενα θαυμαστὴν ἔχει τῶν περὶ ψυχὴν θεωρίαν. Λέγεται γὰρ οὕτως·
οἱ δὲ συῶν μὲν ἔχον κεφαλὰς φωνήν τε τρίχας τε καὶ δέμας· αὐτὰρ νοῦς ἦν ἔμπεδος ὡς τὸ πάρος περ.60.2
Ἔστι τοίνυν ὁ μῦθος αἴνιγμα τῶν περὶ ψυχῆς ὑπό τε Πυθαγόρου λεγομένων καὶ Πλάτωνος, ὡς ἄφθαρτος οὖσα τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἀίδιος, οὔ τι μὴν ἀπαθὴς οὐδὲ ἀμετάβλητος, ἐν ταῖς λεγομέναις φθοραῖς καὶ τελευταῖς μεταβολὴν ἴσχει καὶ μετακόσμησιν εἰς ἕτερα σωμάτων εἴδη, καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν διώκουσα τὸ πρόσφορον καὶ οἰκεῖον ὁμοιότητι καὶ συνηθείᾳ βίου διαίτης.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 146960.1 · Porphyry: Circe and the unchanged mind
By the same author.
What Homer says about Circe offers a remarkable contemplation of matters concerning the soul. For he says:
They had the heads, the voices, and the bristles of swine, and their bodies; but their mind remained steadfast, just as before.1760
60.2 · An enduring soul in changing bodies
The myth, then, is a riddle expressing what Pythagoras and Plato say about the soul: that although it is imperishable by nature and eternal, it is certainly neither unaffected nor unchanging. In what are called destructions and deaths, it undergoes change and a rearrangement into other forms of bodies, pursuing, in accordance with pleasure, what suits it and is akin to it through similarity and familiarity of its manner of life.1761
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.60.1–I.49.60.2
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.