Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 499 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.5.4–I.49.5.5
Ancient Greek
p. 9945.4
Ἡ δὲ ἀνθρωπίνη ἔχει μὲν καί τι τοῦ θείου, συνῆπται δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ τὰ ἄλογα, ἥ τε ἐπιθυμία καὶ ὁ θυμός. Καὶ αὗται μὲν ἀθάνατοι, καθότι καὶ αὗται ἐνέργειαι τυγχάνουσιν, [αἱ] ἐνέργειαι δὲ θνητῶν σωμάτων. Διὸ τοῦ μὲν θείου μέρους τῆς ψυχῆς, οὔσης ἐν τῷ θείῳ σώματι, πόρρω τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι· ἐπειδὰν δὲ εἰσέλθῃ τοῦτο εἰς θνητὸν σῶμα, κἀκεῖνα ἐπιφοιτᾷ καὶ τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτῶν γίνεται ἀεὶ ψυχὴ ἀνθρωπίνη. Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἀλόγων συνέστηκεν ἐκ θυμοῦ τε καὶ ἐπιθυμίας. Διόπερ καὶ ἄλογα ἐκλήθη τὰ ζῷα ταῦτα, στερήσει τοῦ λόγου τῆς ψυχῆς.
5.5
Τετάρτην δὲ νόει τὴν τῶν ἀψύχων, ἥτις ἔξωθεν οὖσα τῶν σωμάτων ἐνεργεῖ κινοῦσα. Αὕτη δ᾽ ἂν εἴη ἐν τῷ θείῳ σώματι κινουμένη καὶ ὥσπερ κατὰ πάροδον ταῦτα κινοῦσα.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 9955.4 · Human and irrational souls
The human soul has something of the divine, but the irrational elements, desire and spirit, are also attached to it. These too are immortal, insofar as they too are activities, yet activities of mortal bodies. They are therefore far from the divine part of the soul while the soul is in the divine body. But whenever that part enters a mortal body, those elements also arrive, and through their presence it always becomes a human soul. The soul of irrational creatures consists of spirit and desire. These creatures are accordingly called irrational because they lack the soul’s reason.1271
5.5 · Motion in things without soul
Understand a fourth kind, that belonging to things without soul: it is outside the bodies and acts by moving them. This would be moving within the divine body and moving these things, as it were, in passing.1272
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.5.4–I.49.5.5
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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.
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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.