Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 428 of 879
Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.6.3–I.41.6.5
Ancient Greek
p. 8526.3
Τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον εἰ μὲν τινὲς τῶν μυρμήκων τοῦτο ἔπραττον, οἱ δ᾽ οὔ, καλῶς ἂν ἔλεγες ἐπιστήμῃ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πράττειν καὶ τέχνῃ συνάγειν τὰς τροφάς· εἰ δὲ πάντες ὁμοίως ἄγονται ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως ἐπὶ τοῦτο καὶ ἄκοντες, δῆλον ὅτι οὐκ ἐπιστήμῃ οὐδὲ τέχνῃ τοῦτο πράττουσιν.
6.4
Ἐνέργειαι γάρ, ὦ Τάτ, ἀσώματοι αὐταὶ οὖσαι, ἐν σώμασίν εἰσιν καὶ διὰ τῶν σωμάτων ἐνεργοῦσι. Διόπερ, ὦ Τάτ, καθότι ἀσώματοί εἰσι, καὶ ἀθανάτους αὐτάς φημι εἶναι· καθότι δὲ χωρὶς σωμάτων ἐνεργεῖν οὐ δύνανται, φημὶ αὐτὰς εἶναι ἀεὶ ἐν σώματι. Τὰ γὰρ πρός τι ἢ ἕνεκά τινος γενόμενα προνοίᾳ καὶ ἀνάγκῃ ὑποπεπτωκότα ἀδύνατον ἀργά ποτε μεῖναι τῆς ἰδίας ἐνεργείας.
6.5
Τὸ γὰρ ὂν ἀεὶ ἔσται, ταὐτὸ γὰρ αὐτοῦ καὶ σῶμα καὶ ζωή ἐστι. Τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ ἕπεται τὸ καὶ ἀεὶ τὰ σώματα εἶναι. Διὸ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν σωμάτωσίν φημι ἀιδίαν ἐνέργειαν εἶναι. Εἰ γὰρ σώματα ἐπίγεια διαλυτά, σώματα δὲ δεῖ εἶναι, τόπους καὶ ὄργανα τῶν ἐνεργειῶν ταῦτα, αἱ δὲ ἐνέργειαι ἀθάνατοι, τὸ δὲ ἀθάνατον ἀεί ἐστιν, ἐνέργεια καὶ ἡ σωματοποίησις, εἴγε ἀεί ἐστι.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 41
p. 8536.3 · The example of ants
In the same way, if some ants did this and others did not, you would rightly say that they did it by knowledge and gathered their food by skill. But if all alike are led to it by nature, even without willing it, clearly they do not do it by knowledge or skill.1101
6.4 · Incorporeal activities in bodies
For activities, Tat, although themselves incorporeal, are in bodies and act through bodies. Accordingly, insofar as they are incorporeal, I say that they are immortal; insofar as they cannot act without bodies, I say that they are always in a body. Things that have come to be in relation to something or for some purpose, subject to providence and necessity, can never remain idle in respect of their own activity.1102
6.5 · The continual formation of bodies
For what is will always be: its body and life are the same. It follows from this argument that bodies, too, always exist. That is why I say that embodiment itself is an everlasting activity. For if earthly bodies are dissoluble, yet bodies must exist as places and instruments of activities, while activities are immortal and the immortal always exists, the formation of bodies is itself an activity, since it always exists.1103
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.6.3–I.41.6.5
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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.
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