Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Swipe or use the arrow keys.
English Page · Branch 454 of 879
Book I Chapter 47 · I.47.heading–I.47.1.2
Ancient Greek
p. 904Κεφάλαιον ΜΖʹ
Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπων.
1.1 · Πλάτωνος
Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Τιμαίου.
Καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ νῦν ἡμῖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς παραγγελθέντα διεξελθεῖν περὶ τοῦ παντὸς μέχρι γενέσεως ἀνθρωπινῆς σχεδὸν ἔοικε τέλος ἔχειν. Τὰ γὰρ ἄλλα ζῷα ᾗ γέγονεν αὖ διὰ βραχέων ἐπιμνηστέον, ὃ μή τις ἀνάγκη μηκύνειν· οὕτω γὰρ ἐμμετρότερός τις αὐτῷ ἂν δόξειε περὶ τοὺς τοιούτων λόγους εἶναι. Τῇδ᾽ οὖν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἔστω λεγόμενον.
1.2
Τῶν γενομένων ἀνδρῶν ὅσοι δειλοὶ καὶ τὸν βίον ἀδίκως διῆλθον, κατὰ λόγον τὸν εἰκότα γυναῖκες μετεφύοντο ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ γενέσει. Καὶ κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον δὴ τὸν χρόνον διὰ ταῦτα θεοὶ τὸν τῆς ξυνουσίας ἔρωτα ἐτεκτήναντο, ζῷον τὸ μὲν ἐν ἡμῖν, τὸ δ᾽ ἐν ταῖς γυναιξὶ συστήσαντες ἔμψυχον, τοιῷδε τρόπῳ ποιήσαντες ἑκάτερον.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 47
p. 905Chapter 47: On human nature
On human nature.1164
1.1 · Plato: completing the account of the world
From Plato, from the Timaeus.
The account we were charged at the outset to give, concerning the universe down to the generation of human beings, now seems almost complete. We must briefly mention in turn how the other living creatures came into being, without unnecessarily prolonging the subject; for one would then seem to oneself more measured in discussions of this kind. Let the account, then, proceed as follows.1165
1.2 · Sexual difference and a second birth
Of the men who had come into being, those who were cowardly and lived unjust lives were, according to the likely account, transformed into women at their second birth. At that time, for these reasons, the gods devised the desire for sexual intercourse, forming an ensouled creature in us and another in women, and making each in the following way.1166
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 47 · I.47.heading–I.47.1.2
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.