Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 437 of 879
Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.7.4–I.41.7.5
Ancient Greek
p. 8707.4
Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν τὸ πνεῦμα οὐκ εἶχεν ἐν τῇ νηδύι τὴν ζωτικὴν κίνησιν, τὴν δὲ βλαστικήν, καὶ ταύτην ἥρμοσεν ἁρμονία, ὑποδοχὴν οὖσαν τῆς διανοητικῆς ζωῆς. Ἔστι δὲ αὕτη ἀμερὴς καὶ ἀμετάβλητος, οὐδέποτε ἐξισταμένη τῆς ἀμεταβλησίας. Τὸ δ᾽ ἐν τῇ νηδύι ἀριθμοῖς λοχεύει καὶ μαιοῦται καὶ εἰς τὸν ἔξω ἀέρα ἄγει·
7.5
Καὶ ἐγγυτάτω ψυχὴ οὖσα οἰκειοῦται, οὐ κατὰ τὴν συγγενικὴν ἰδιότητα ἀλλὰ τὴν καθειμαρμένην· οὐ γὰρ ἔρως ἐστὶν αὐτῇ μετὰ σώματος εἶναι. Διὰ τοῦτο καθ᾽ εἱμαρμένην παρέχει τῷ γιγνομένῳ διανοητικὴν κίνησιν καὶ νοερὰν ζωῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίαν· παρεισέρπει γὰρ τῷ πνεύματι καὶ κινεῖ ζωτικῶς.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 41
p. 8717.4 · Growth prepared for thought
Since, then, the breath in the womb did not possess the movement of animal life but the movement of growth, harmony fitted this movement together as a receptacle for the life of thought. This is without parts and unchangeable, never departing from its unchangeability. Through numbers it brings to birth and midwives what is in the womb, leading it into the outer air.1121
7.5 · The soul’s fated association
And the soul, being very near, becomes associated with it, not through a characteristic of natural kinship but through one assigned by fate; for it has no desire to be with a body. For this reason it gives the creature coming to be, according to fate, the movement of thought and the intellectual substance of life itself. For it slips into the breath and sets it in living motion.1122
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.7.4–I.41.7.5
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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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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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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.