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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 48 · I.48.5.7–I.48.5.8

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Facing Pages · Branch 483 of 879

Book I Chapter 48 · I.48.5.7–I.48.5.8

Ancient Greek

p. 962

5.7

I.48.5.7

ὁ δ᾽ ἡμέτερος ⟨νοῦς⟩ ἀσωμάτων καὶ ἑτέρων θεωρὸς οὐσιῶν ποῦ τοίνυν κειμένας καταλήψεται αὐτάς; Ἔξω δὲ ὄντων ὕλης οὐδαμοῦ ἂν εἴη ταῦτα. Δῆλον ⟨οὖν⟩ ὡς νοερὰ καὶ νοήσει συναχθήσεται. [Καὶ] τοίνυν εἰ νοερὰ ⟨χωρεῖ⟩ εἰς τὸν νοῦν, [καὶ τὸ νοητὸν] καὶ ἑαυτὸν θεωρήσει νοῶν τὰ νοητά· καὶ χωρῶν εἰς ἑαυτόν, νοεῖ διὰ τὸ εἰς ἐκεῖνα χωρεῖν.

5.8

I.48.5.8

Εἰ δὲ πολλὰ [καὶ] τὰ νοητά, (πολλὰ γὰρ ὁ νοῦς νοεῖ καὶ οὐχ ἕν), πολλὰ ἂν εἴη [καὶ] ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ αὐτός. Κεῖται δὲ πρὸ τῶν πολλῶν τὸ ἕν, ὥστε ἀνάγκη πρὸ τοῦ νοῦ εἶναι τὸ ἕν.

962

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 48

p. 963

5.7 · Intelligibles have no external place

I.48.5.7

But our ⟨intellect⟩ contemplates incorporeal and different substances: where, then, will it find them situated when it apprehends them? Since they are outside matter, these things would be nowhere. It is clear, ⟨then⟩, that as intellectual things they will be gathered together by thinking. [And] accordingly, if intellectual things ⟨enter⟩ intellect, [and the intelligible,] it will also contemplate itself when it thinks the intelligibles; and in entering itself it thinks because it enters them.1233

5.8 · The conclusion: unity precedes multiplicity

I.48.5.8

If the intelligibles [too] are many (for intellect thinks many things, and not one), intellect itself too must necessarily be many [also]. But the One is prior to the many; hence the One must be prior to intellect.1234

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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.