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English Page · Branch 411 of 879
Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.1.4–I.41.1.5
Ancient Greek
p. 8181.4
Τοῦτ᾽, ὦ τέκνον, τοῦτο εὐσεβείας ἔστω τέλος, ἐφ᾽ ὃ ἀφικνούμενος καὶ καλῶς βιώσῃ καὶ εὐδαιμόνως τεθνήξῃ τῆς ψυχῆς σου μὴ ἀγνοούσης ποῦ αὐτὴν δεῖ ἀναπτῆναι. Αὕτη γὰρ μόνη ἐστίν, ὦ τέκνον, ἡ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὁδός, ἣν καὶ οἱ ἡμέτεροι πρόγονοι ὥδευσαν καὶ ὁδεύσαντες ἔτυχον τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ. Σεμνὴ αὕτη ὁδὸς καὶ λεία, χαλεπὴ δὲ ψυχῇ ὁδεῦσαι ἐν σώματι οὔσῃ.
1.5
Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἑαυτῇ πολεμῆσαι δεῖ καὶ διάστασιν μεγάλην ποιῆσαι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἑνὸς μέρους πλεονεκτηθῆναι. Ἑνὸς γὰρ γίγνεται πρὸς δύο ἡ σύστασις, τοῦ μὲν φεύγοντος, τῶν δὲ καθελκόντων κάτω, καὶ ἔρις καὶ μάχη πολλὴ πρὸς ἄλληλα τούτων γίγνεται τοῦ μὲν φυγεῖν βουλομένου, τῶν δὲ κατασχεῖν σπευδόντων. Ἡ δὲ νίκη ἀμφοτέρων οὐχ ὁμοία· τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν σπεύδει, τὰ δὲ πρὸς τὰ κακὰ κατοικεῖ· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐλευθερωθῆναι ποθεῖ, τὰ δὲ τὴν δουλείαν ἀγαπᾷ.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 41
p. 8191.4 · The road to truth
Let this, my child, be the goal of piety. By reaching it you will both live well and die blessed, since your soul will know where it must fly upward. For this alone, my child, is the road to truth, which our ancestors also traveled, and by traveling it attained the good. This road is venerable and smooth, yet difficult for a soul to travel while it is in a body.1060
1.5 · The inward struggle
First the soul must wage war against itself, bring about a great division, and be overcome by its one part. For one is arrayed against two: the one flees, while the others pull it downward. Great strife and conflict arise between them, the one wishing to escape, the others eager to hold it fast. Victory does not mean the same thing for both sides: the one hastens toward the good, while the others dwell amid evils; the one longs to be set free, while the others cherish slavery.1061
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.1.4–I.41.1.5
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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.