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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 49 · I.49.13.11–I.49.13.12

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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.13.11–I.49.13.12

Ancient Greek

p. 1052

13.11

I.49.13.11

Ἐκ τούτου ἄρα τοῦ λόγου ἡμῖν πᾶσαι ψυχαὶ πάντων ζῴων ὁμοίως ἀγαθαὶ ἔσονται, εἴπερ ὁμοίως ψυχαὶ πεφύκασιν αὐτὸ τοῦτο εἶναι, ψυχαί. - Ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες. - Ἦ καὶ καλῶς δοκεῖ, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς, οὕτω λέγεσθαι καὶ πάσχειν ἂν ταῦτα ὁ λόγος, εἰ ὀρθὴ ἡ ὑπόθεσις ἦν, τὸ ψυχὴν ἁρμονίαν εἶναι. - Οὐδ᾽ ὁπωστιοῦν, ἔφη.

13.12

I.49.13.12

Τί δέ; ἦ δ᾽ ὅς· τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ πάντων ἔσθ᾽ ὅ τι ἄλλο λέγεις ἄρχειν ἢ ψυχήν, ἄλλως τε καὶ φρόνιμον; - Οὐκ ἔγωγε. - Πότερον συγχωροῦσαν τοῖς κατὰ τὸ σῶμα παθήμασιν, ἢ καὶ ἐναντιουμένην; λέγω δὲ τὸ τοιόνδε· οἷον καύματος ἐνόντος καὶ δίψους ἐπὶ τοὐναντίον ἕλκειν, τὸ μὴ πίνειν, καὶ πείνης ἐνούσης ἐπὶ τὸ μὴ ἐσθίειν, καὶ ἄλλα που μυρία ἐροῦμεν ἐναντιουμένην τὴν ψυχὴν τοῖς κατὰ τὸ σῶμα· ἢ οὔ; - Πάνυ μὲν οὖν.

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Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1053

13.11 · An unacceptable consequence

I.49.13.11

“Then according to this argument all souls of all living creatures will be equally good, if souls are equally constituted to be just this, souls.”

“So it seems to me, Socrates,” he said.

“And does it seem right for the account to be stated this way,” he said, “and would the argument have these consequences if the premise that soul is harmony were correct?”

“Not in any way,” he said.1321

13.12 · Soul resists bodily desires

I.49.13.12

“What, then?” he said. “Of everything in a human being, do you say that anything governs except soul, especially a wise soul?”

“I do not.”

“Does it yield to the body’s conditions, or does it also oppose them? I mean this sort of thing: when heat and thirst are present, it pulls in the opposite direction, toward not drinking; when hunger is present, toward not eating. And we shall describe countless other cases in which soul opposes what concerns the body, shall we not?”

“Certainly.”1322

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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.