Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 503 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.7c.1–I.49.7c.2
Ancient Greek
p. 10027c.1 · ⟨Ἀετίου καὶ Πλάτωνος⟩
Πλάτων ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἀεικίνητον.
Λέγει γοῦν ἐν Φαίδωνι·
Εἰπόντος δὴ τοῦ Σωκράτους ταῦτα ὑπολαβὼν ὁ Κέβης ἔφη· Ὦ Σώκρατες, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ λέγεσθαι καλῶς, τὰ δὲ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς πολλὴν ἀπιστίαν παρέχει τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, μὴ ἐπειδὰν ἀπαλλαγῇ τοῦ σώματος οὐδαμοῦ ἔτι ⟨ᾖ⟩, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ διαφθείρηταί τε καὶ ἀπολλύηται, ᾗ ἂν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀποθάνῃ, εὐθὺς ἀπαλλαττομένη τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἐκβαίνουσα ὥσπερ πνεῦμα ἢ καπνὸς διασκεδασθεῖσα οἴχηται διαπτομένη καὶ οὐδὲν ἔτι οὐδαμοῦ ᾖ.
7c.2
Ἐπεὶ εἴπερ εἴη που αὐτὴ καθ᾽ αὑτὴν συνηθροισμένη καὶ ἀπηλλαγμένη τούτων τῶν κακῶν ⟨ὧν⟩ νῦν σὺ διῆλθες, πολλὴ ἂν εἴη ἐλπὶς καὶ καλή, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὡς ἀληθῆ ἐστιν ἃ σὺ λέγεις· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο δὴ ἴσως οὐκ ὀλίγης παραμυθίας δεῖται καὶ πίστεως, ὡς ἐστί τε ἡ ψυχὴ ἀποθανόντος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καί τινα δύναμιν ἔχει καὶ φρόνησιν.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 10037c.1 · ⟨Aëtius and Plato⟩: Cebes’ doubt
Plato holds that it is indestructible and always in motion.
He says, at any rate, in the Phaedo:
When Socrates had said this, Cebes took up the discussion. “Socrates,” he said, “the other things seem to me well said. But what concerns the soul causes people much disbelief. They fear that, once released from the body, it may no longer ⟨exist⟩ anywhere, but may be destroyed and perish on the very day the person dies; that immediately on leaving the body and departing from it, scattered like breath or smoke, it may fly away and no longer be anything anywhere.”1282
7c.2 · Survival must include understanding
“For if it existed somewhere on its own, gathered together and released from those evils ⟨which⟩ you have just described, Socrates, there would be great and noble hope that what you say is true. But perhaps no little reassurance and convincing evidence are needed for this: that the soul exists after the person has died and possesses some power and understanding.”1283
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.7c.1–I.49.7c.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.