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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

Stobaeus, Volume I

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 47 · I.47.7.3–I.47.8.1

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Book I Chapter 47 · I.47.7.3–I.47.8.1

Ancient Greek

p. 920

7.3

I.47.7.3

ταὐτὸν δὴ δεῖ νομίζειν τοῦτο γίγνεσθαι καὶ περὶ τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων διανοίας τε ἅμα καὶ τὰς τῶν ψυχῶν φύσεις. Οἷς γὰρ ἂν ἐντραφῶσι νόμοις καὶ κατά τινα θείαν εὐτυχίαν ἀκίνητοι γένωνται μακρῶν καὶ πολλῶν χρόνων, ὡς μηδένα ἔχειν μνείαν μηδὲ ἀκοὴν τοῦ ποτὲ ἄλλως αὐτὰ σχεῖν ἢ καθάπερ νῦν ἔχει, σέβεται καὶ φοβεῖται πᾶσα ἡ ψυχὴ τό τι κινεῖν τῶν τότε καθεστώτων.

8.1 · Ἑρμοῦ

I.47.8.1

Ἑρμοῦ ἐκ τῶν πρὸς Τάτ.

⟨ἙΡΜ.⟩ Κοινωνία δέ ἐστι ψυχῶν, καὶ κοινωνοῦσι μὲν αἱ τῶν θεῶν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, αἱ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ταῖς τῶν ἀλόγων. Ἐπιμελοῦνται δὲ οἱ κρείττονες τῶν ἐλαττόνων, θεοὶ μὲν ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωποι δὲ τῶν ἀλόγων [ζῴων], ὁ δὲ θεὸς πάντων. Ὁ μὲν οὖν κόσμος ὑπόκειται τῷ θεῷ, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος τῷ κόσμῳ, τὰ δὲ ἄλογα τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ὑπὲρ πάντα καὶ περὶ πάντα.

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Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 47

p. 921

7.3 · Reverence for established laws

I.47.7.3

We must suppose that the same thing happens with people’s mental dispositions and the natures of their souls. When the laws in which they have been brought up remain unmoved through some divine good fortune for a long succession of years, so that no one remembers or has even heard of things ever being otherwise than they are now, the whole soul feels reverence and fears to disturb anything then established.1185

8.1 · Hermes: the community of souls

I.47.8.1

From Hermes, from the discourses To Tat.

⟨HERMES⟩ There is a community of souls: those of the gods share with those of human beings, and human souls with those of irrational beings. The greater care for the lesser: gods for human beings, human beings for irrational [creatures], and God for all.1186 The cosmos is therefore subject to God, the human being to the cosmos, and irrational beings to the human being; God is above all and encompasses all.1187

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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.