Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 439 of 879
Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.8.3–I.41.8.4
Ancient Greek
p. 8748.3
Πῶς γὰρ ἂν καὶ τὸ τυχὸν ἀντέσχεν ὁ σύνδεσμος ἡμῶν τῶν σωμάτων, εἰ μή τινα εἶχεν ἐπεισερχομένην τροφὴν ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων στοιχείων καὶ ὑπεσωμάτου ἡμᾶς καθ᾽ ἑκάστην τὴν ἡμέραν; Καὶ γὰρ γῆς τε καὶ ὕδατος καὶ πυρὸς καὶ ἀέρος ἐπιρροὴ ἡμῖν γίγνεται, ἥ τις τὰ σώματα ἡμῶν νεοποιοῦσα συνέχει τὸ σκῆνος· ὥστε καὶ πρὸς τὰς κινήσεις ἐσμὲν ἀσθενέστεροι, φέροντες κινήσεις μηδὲ ἡμέρας μιᾶς.
8.4
Εὖ γὰρ ἴσθι, ὦ τέκνον, ὅτι εἰ μὴ ἐν ταῖς νυξὶν ἡμῶν ἀνεπαύετο τὰ σώματα, οὐκ ἂν πρὸς μίαν ἡμέραν ἀντέσχομεν. Ὅθεν ἀγαθὸς ὢν ὁ δημιουργὸς πάντα προεπιστάμενος, εἰς διαμονὴν τοῦ ζῴου ἐποίησε τὸν ὕπνον, [ὃν] μέγιστον τοῦ καμάτου τῆς κινήσεως, καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἰσότητος ἔταξεν ἑκατέρῳ χρόνον, μᾶλλον δὲ τῇ ἀναπαύλῃ πλείονα.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 41
p. 8758.3 · Food renews the body
How could the binding of our bodies endure even for a little while, unless it received incoming nourishment from like elements and replenished our bodies each day? For an influx of earth, water, fire, and air comes to us, renewing our bodies and holding together their dwelling. Thus we are also weak in relation to movement, unable to endure even a single day’s movements.1125
8.4 · Sleep and rest
Know well, my child, that if our bodies did not rest at night, we could not hold out for a single day. Hence the maker, being good and knowing all things beforehand, made sleep for the creature’s preservation, [which] greatest ... for the weariness of movement, and assigned equal time to each - or rather, more to rest.1126
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.8.3–I.41.8.4
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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.
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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.