Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.9.18–I.21.9.20
Ancient Greek
p. 5309 Ἑρμοῦ · 18
Ὁ ταῦτα μὴ ἀγνοήσας ἀκριβῶς δύναται νοῆσαι τὸν θεόν, εἰ δὲ καὶ τολμήσαντα δεῖ εἰπεῖν, καὶ αὐτόπτης γενόμενος θεάσασθαι καὶ θεασάμενος μακάριος γενέσθαι.
⟨ΤΑΤ⟩ Μακάριος ὡς ἀληθῶς, ὦ πάτερ, ὁ τοῦτον θεασάμενος.
9 Ἑρμοῦ · 19
⟨ἙΡΜ.⟩ Ἀλλ᾽ ἀδύνατον, ὦ τέκνον, τὸν ἐν σώματι τούτου εὐτυχῆσαι. Δεῖ δὲ προγυμνάζειν αὑτοῦ τινα τὴν ψυχὴν ἐνθάδε, ἵνα ἐκεῖ γενομένη, ὅπου αὐτὴν ἔξεστι θεάσασθαι, ὁδοῦ μὴ σφαλῇ. Ὅσοι δὲ ἄνθρωποι φιλοσώματοί εἰσιν, οὗτοι οὐκ ἄν ποτε θεάσαιντο τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ ὄψιν. Οἷον γάρ ἐστι κάλλος, ὦ τέκνον, τὸ μήτε σχῆμα μήτε χρῶμα μήτε σῶμα ἔχον.
9 Ἑρμοῦ · 20
⟨ΤΑΤ⟩ Εἴη δ᾽ ἄν τι, ὦ πάτερ, χωρὶς τούτων καλόν;
⟨ἙΡΜ.⟩ Μόνος ὁ θεός, ὦ τέκνον, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ μεῖζόν τι ὄν, τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ὄνομα.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 21
p. 5319 Hermes: From understanding to vision
Whoever has not remained ignorant of these things can understand God precisely; and, if one may venture to say so, can even behold him in direct vision and, having beheld him, become blessed.
⟨TAT⟩ Truly blessed, father, is the one who has beheld him.667
9 Hermes: Preparing the soul
⟨HERMES⟩ But it is impossible, my child, for someone in a body to attain this good fortune. One must train one’s soul beforehand here, so that when it arrives there, where it is permitted to behold, it may not lose its way. Those who are lovers of the body could never behold the vision of the beautiful and good. What beauty there is, my child, in that which has neither shape nor color nor body!668
9 Hermes: Beauty without body
⟨TAT⟩ Could anything be beautiful apart from these, father?
⟨HERMES⟩ God alone, my child; or rather, that which is something greater: the name of God.669
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.9.18–I.21.9.20
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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.
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.