Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 263 of 879
Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.9.8–I.21.9.9
Ancient Greek
p. 5229 Ἑρμοῦ · 8
Ἔτι τε πρὸς τούτοις νόησον· εἰ γὰρ οὗτοι μὲν ἐπιστατοῦσιν ἐκείνων, ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ τοῖς ἑπτά ἐσμεν, οὐ νοεῖς καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς τινα ἐκείνων φθάνειν ἐνέργειαν, ἤτοι ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν, ἢ δι᾽ ἐκείνων;
⟨ΤΑΤ⟩ Τίς ⟨δ᾽ ἂν⟩ αὐτοῖς εἴη, ὦ πάτερ, ὁ τοῦ σώματος τύπος;
⟨ἙΡΜ.⟩ Τούτους οὖν καλοῦσιν οἱ πολλοὶ δαίμονας· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴδιόν τι ἐστὶ γένος τὸ τῶν δαιμόνων οὔτε ἄλλα σώματα ἔχοντες ἐξ ἰδίας τινὸς ὕλης οὔτε ψυχῇ κινούμενοι ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς, ἀλλὰ ἐνέργειαί εἰσι τῶν τριάκοντα ἓξ τούτων θεῶν.
9 Ἑρμοῦ · 9
Ἔτι δὲ πρὸς τούτοις νόησον, ὦ Τάτ, ἐνέργημα τούτων, ὅτι καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν σπερματίζουσιν ἃς καλοῦσι τάνας, τὰς μὲν σωτηρίους, τὰς δὲ ὀλεθριωτάτας.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 21
p. 5239 Hermes: Daemons as activities
Consider this also: if these govern those, and we in turn are subject to the seven, do you not see that some activity of theirs reaches us too, either from the decans themselves or through the seven?
⟨TAT⟩ ⟨Then⟩ what ⟨might⟩ their bodily form be, father?
⟨HERMES⟩ Most people call these daemons. For daemons are not a distinct kind, possessing different bodies made from some matter of their own, nor moved by soul as we are; they are activities of these thirty-six gods.657
9 Hermes: The tanas
Consider also this effect of theirs, Tat: they sow in the earth those called tanas, some saving, others utterly destructive.658
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.9.8–I.21.9.9
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.
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