Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 520 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.13.1
Ancient Greek
p. 103613.1 · Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδωνος
Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδωνος.
Πότερον οὖν, ἔφη, πάντας τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν λόγους οὐκ ἀποδέχεσθε, ἢ τοὺς μέν, τοὺς δ᾽ οὔ; - Τοὺς μέν, ἐφάτην, τοὺς δ᾽ οὔ. - Τί οὖν, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς, περὶ ἐκείνου τοῦ λόγου λέγετε, ἐν ᾧ ἔφαμεν τὴν μάθησιν ἀνάμνησιν εἶναι, καὶ τούτου οὕτως ἔχοντος ἀναγκαίως ἔχειν ἄλλο τι πρότερον ἡμῶν εἶναι τὴν ψυχήν, πρὶν ἐν τῷ σώματι ἐντεθῆναι; - Ἐγὼ μέν, ἔφη ὁ Κέβης, καὶ τότε θαυμαστῶς ἐπείσθην ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ νῦν ἐμμένω ὡς οὐδενὶ λόγῳ. - Καὶ μήν, ἔφη ὁ Σιμμίας, καὶ αὐτὸς οὕτως ἔχω, καὶ πάνυ γε ἂν θαυμάσαιμι, εἴ μοι περί γε τούτου ἄλλα ποτέ ἔτι δόξειεν.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 103713.1 · Plato: recollection reconsidered
Plato, from the Phaedo.
“Then,” he said, “do you reject all the preceding arguments, or accept some and reject others?”
“Some we accept,” they both said, “and others we reject.”
“What, then,” he said, “do you say about the argument in which we said that learning is recollection, and that, if this is so, our soul must surely have existed earlier, before being placed in the body?”
“For my part,” said Cebes, “I was wonderfully persuaded by it then, and now I stand by it as by no other argument.”
“I feel the same myself,” said Simmias, “and I would be very surprised if I ever came to think differently about this.”1311
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.13.1
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.