Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Swipe or use the arrow keys.
Facing Pages · Branch 438 of 879
Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.8.1–I.41.8.2
Ancient Greek
p. 8728.1
Ἑρμοῦ ἐκ τῶν πρὸς Ἄμμωνα πρὸς Τάτ.
Καὶ ὁ μὲν κύριος καὶ πάντων δημιουργὸς τῶν ἀιδίων σωμάτων, ὦ Τάτ, ἅπαξ ποιήσας οὐκέτι ἐποίησεν οὐδὲ ποιεῖ. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἑαυτοῖς παραδοὺς καὶ ἑνώσας ἀλλήλοις ἀφῆκε φέρεσθαι, μηδὲν ἐνδέοντα, ὡς ἀίδια. Εἰ δὲ δέονταί τινων, ἀλλήλων δεήσονται, οὐδεμιᾶς δὲ τῆς ἔξωθεν ἐπιφορᾶς, ὡς ἀθάνατα. Ἔδει γὰρ τὰ ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνου σώματα γενόμενα τοιαύτην ἔχειν καὶ τὴν φύσιν.
8.2
Ὁ δὲ ἡμέτερος δημιουργὸς ἐν σώματι ὢν ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ ποιεῖ ἀεὶ καὶ ποιήσει σώματα διαλυτὰ καὶ θνητά. Οὐ γὰρ θέμις ἦν αὐτῷ μιμεῖσθαι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δημιουργόν, ἄλλως τε καὶ ἀδύνατον ⟨ὄν⟩. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς πρώτης οὐσίας ἐποίησεν οὔσης ἀσωμάτου, ὁ δὲ ἐκ τῆς γειναμένης σωματώσεως ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς. Εἰκότως οὖν κατὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον ἐκεῖνα μὲν τὰ σώματα, ὡς ἐξ ἀσωμάτου οὐσίας γεγεννημένα, ἀθάνατά ἐστι· τὰ δὲ ἡμέτερα διαλυτὰ καὶ θνητά, ὡς τῆς ὕλης ἡμῶν ἐκ σωμάτων συνεστώσης, διὰ τὸ ἀσθενῆ εἶναι καὶ πολλῆς ἐπικουρίας δεόμενα.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 41
p. 8738.1 · Hermes: everlasting bodies
From Hermes, from the writings To Ammon, to Tat.1123
The lord and maker of all everlasting bodies, Tat, having made them once, made them no more and does not make them now. For he entrusted them to themselves, united them with one another, and let them move, lacking nothing, since they are everlasting. If they need anything, they will need one another, but no supply from outside, since they are immortal. For bodies that came to be through him had to possess a corresponding nature.
8.2 · The maker of mortal bodies
Our maker, however, being in a body, made us, continually makes us, and will make us as bodies that can dissolve and die. For it was not lawful for him to imitate his own maker, besides its ⟨being⟩ impossible. The one made things from the first substance, which is incorporeal; the other made us from the embodiment that gave birth. Thus, according to sound reason, those bodies are immortal, having been born from incorporeal substance; ours are dissoluble and mortal, since our matter is constituted from bodies, and they are weak and need much assistance.1124
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.8.1–I.41.8.2
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.