Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 504 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.7c.3–I.49.8.1
Ancient Greek
p. 10047c.3
Ἀληθῆ, ἔφη, λέγεις, ὁ Σωκράτης, ὦ Κέβης· ἀλλὰ τί δὴ ποιῶμεν; ἢ περὶ αὐτῶν τούτων βούλει διαμυθολογῶμεν, εἴτε εἰκὸς οὕτως ἔχειν εἴτε μή; - Ἐγὼ γοῦν, ἔφη ὁ Κέβης, ἡδέως ἂν ἀκούσαιμ᾽ ἥντινα δόξαν ἔχεις περὶ αὐτῶν.
8.1 · Ἐν ταὐτῷ
Ἐν ταὐτῷ.
Παλαιὸς μὲν οὖν ἐστί τις λόγος οὗτος, οὗ μεμνήμεθα, ὡς εἰσὶν ἐνθένδε ἀφικόμεναι ἐκεῖ, καὶ πάλιν γε δεῦρο ἀφικνοῦνται καὶ γίγνονται ἐκ τῶν τεθνεώτων· καὶ εἰ τοῦθ᾽ οὕτως ἔχει, πάλιν γίγνεσθαι ἐκ τῶν ἀποθανόντων τοὺς ζῶντας, ἄλλο τι ἢ εἶεν ἂν ἡμῶν αἱ ψυχαὶ ἐκεῖ; Οὐ γὰρ ἄν που πάλιν ἐγίγνοντο μὴ οὖσαι· καὶ τοῦτο ἱκανὸν τεκμήριον τοῦ ταῦτ᾽ εἶναι, εἰ τῷ ὄντι φανερὸν γένοιτο, ὅτι οὐδαμόθεν ἄλλοθεν γίγνονται οἱ ζῶντες ἢ ἐκ τῶν τεθνεώτων· εἰ δὲ μή ἐστι τοῦτο, ἄλλου ἄν του δέοι λόγου. - Πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη ὁ Κέβης.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 10057c.3 · Socrates proposes an inquiry
“What you say is true, Cebes,” said Socrates. “But what shall we do? Would you like us to discuss these very matters, whether they are likely to be so or not?”
“I, at any rate,” said Cebes, “would gladly hear what opinion you hold about them.”1284
8.1 · Plato: an old account of return
In the same work.
“Now there is this old account that we remember: souls exist there after arriving from here, and return here again and come into being from the dead. If this is so, if the living come into being again from those who have died, must not our souls exist there? For they could hardly come into being again if they did not exist. This would be sufficient evidence that these things are so, if it actually became clear that the living come into being from no other source than the dead. If that is not the case, some other argument would be needed.”
“Certainly,” said Cebes.1285
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.7c.3–I.49.8.1
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.