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Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.6.8–I.41.6.9
Ancient Greek
p. 8566.8
⟨ΕΡΜ.⟩ Οὕτω νόησον, ὦ Τάτ· τῆς ψυχῆς χωρισθείσης τοῦ σώματος ἐπιμένει αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα· τοῦτο δὲ τὸ σῶμα παρὰ τὸν τῆς ἐπιμονῆς χρόνον ἐνεργεῖται διαλυόμενον καὶ ἀειδὲς γιγνόμενον· ταῦτα δὲ οὐ δύναται πάσχειν τὸ σῶμα χωρὶς ἐνεργείας. Ἐπιμένει οὖν τῷ σώματι ἡ ἐνέργεια αὕτη ψυχῆς χωρισθείσης. Αὕτη οὖν ἡ διαφορὰ ἀθανάτου σώματος καὶ θνητοῦ, ὅτι τὸ μὲν ἀθάνατον ἐκ μιᾶς ὕλης συνέστηκε, τὸ δὲ οὔ· καὶ τὸ μὲν ποιεῖ, τὸ δὲ πάσχει (πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἐνεργοῦν κρατεῖ, τὸ δὲ ἐνεργούμενον κρατεῖται) καὶ τὸ μὲν κρατοῦν ἐπιτακτικὸν καὶ ἐλεύθερον ⟨ὂν⟩ ἄγει, τὸ δὲ δοῦλον φέρεται.
6.9
Αἱ μὲν ⟨οὖν⟩ ἐνέργειαι οὐ μόνον τὰ ἔμψυχα ἐνεργοῦσι σώματα, ⟨ἀλλὰ⟩ καὶ τὰ ἄψυχα, ξύλα καὶ [τοὺς] λίθους καὶ τὰ ἄλλ᾽ ὁμοίως, αὔξουσαί τε καὶ καρποφυοῦσαι καὶ πεπαίνουσαι καὶ φθείρουσαι καὶ τήκουσαι καὶ σήπουσαι καὶ θρύπτουσαι καὶ τὰ ὅμοια ἐνεργοῦσαι, ὅσα δύναται σώματα ἄψυχα πάσχειν. Ἐνέργεια γὰρ κέκληται, ὦ τέκνον, αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστι τὸ γιγνόμενον·
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 41
p. 8576.8 · Activity after the soul’s departure
⟨HERMES⟩ Understand it this way, Tat. When the soul has separated from the body, the body itself remains. For as long as it remains, it is acted upon, dissolving and becoming formless; and the body cannot undergo these things without activity. This activity therefore remains with the body after the soul’s separation. Here, then, is the difference between an immortal body and a mortal one: the immortal is constituted from a single matter, the mortal is not; the one acts, the other is acted upon. For everything active rules, while what is acted upon is ruled. What rules, ⟨being⟩ commanding and free, leads; what is enslaved is carried along.1106
6.9 · Activity in lifeless things
Activities, ⟨then⟩, act not only upon ensouled bodies, ⟨but⟩ also upon lifeless ones - wood, [the] stones, and other things alike - causing growth, the production of fruit, ripening, destruction, melting, rotting, crumbling, and all similar effects that lifeless bodies can undergo. For “activity,” my child, is the name given to precisely this: whatever it is that happens.1107
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.6.8–I.41.6.9
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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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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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