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Book I Chapter 9 · I.9.10–I.9.11
Ancient Greek
p. 27610 Ἐν ταὐτῷ
Ἔστι δὴ οὖν δεῦρο ὁ πᾶς ἥκων λόγος περὶ τῆς τετάρτης μανίας, ἣν ὅταν τὸ τῇδέ τις ὁρῶν κάλλος, τοῦ ἀληθοῦς ἀναμιμνῃσκόμενος πτεροῦταί τε καὶ ἀναπτερούμενος προθυμούμενος ἀναπτέσθαι, ἀδυνατῶν δὲ ὄρνιθος δίκην βλέπων ἄνω, τῶν κάτω δὲ ἀμελῶν, αἰτίαν ἔχει ὡς μανικῶς διακείμενος· ὡς ἄρα αὕτη πασῶν τῶν ἐνθουσιάσεων ἀρίστη τε καὶ ἐξ ἀρίστων τῷ τε ἔχοντι καὶ τῷ κοινωνοῦντι αὐτῆς γίγνεται, καὶ ὅτι ταύτης μετέχων τῆς μανίας ὁ ἐρῶν τῶν καλῶν ἐραστὴς γίγνεται.
11 ⟨Ἐν ταὐτῷ⟩
Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ πάθος, ὦ παῖ καλέ, πρὸς ὃν δή μοι ὁ λόγος, ἄνθρωποι μὲν Ἔρωτα ὀνομάζουσι, θεοὶ δὲ ὃ καλοῦσιν ἀκούσας εἰκότως διὰ νεότητα γελάσεις· λέγουσι δὲ οἶμαί τινες Ὁμηριδῶν ἐκ τῶν ἀποθέτων ἐπῶν δύο ἔπη εἰς τὸν Ἔρωτα, ὧν τὸ ἕτερον πάνυ ὑβριστικὸν καὶ οὐ σφόδρα τι ἔμμετρον, ὑμνοῦσι δὲ ὧδε·
τὸν δή τοι θνητοὶ μὲν Ἔρωτα καλοῦσι ποτηνόν, ἀθάνατοι δὲ Πτέρωτα διὰ πτεροφύτορ’ ἀνάγκην.Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 9
p. 27710 In the same work (249d-e)
The whole argument has thus reached this point concerning the fourth kind of madness. When someone sees beauty here and is reminded of true beauty, he grows wings; as they grow, he longs to fly upward, yet cannot, and like a bird he looks above and neglects what is below. For this he is accused of being mad. The argument is that this inspiration is the best of all and comes from the best sources, both for the person who possesses it and for the one who shares in it; and that by participating in this madness the lover becomes a lover of beautiful people.311
11 ⟨In the same work (252b-c)⟩
This experience, beautiful youth to whom my speech is addressed, is what human beings call Love. When you hear what the gods call it, you will probably laugh, young as you are. Some of the Homeridae, I believe, recite two lines about Love from their secret verses. One of them is thoroughly outrageous and not especially metrical. Their hymn runs like this:312
Mortals, you know, call him winged Love; the immortals call him Wing-love, because he compels wings to grow.313
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 9 · I.9.10–I.9.11
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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.
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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.