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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 556 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.25a.9–I.49.25a.10
Ancient Greek
p. 110825a.9
Πῶς οὖν ἀμερὴς ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ πάλιν τριμερής; Οἱ μὲν οὖν τὰ μέρη τῆς ψυχῆς κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν ἀκούσαντες εἰκότως ἀποροῦσι, πῶς καὶ ἀμερὴς καὶ τριμερής, καὶ λύουσι φάσκοντες κατὰ μὲν ἴδιον λόγον καὶ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὴν εἶναι ἀμερῆ, τριμερῆ δὲ καθ᾽ ὅσον ἐν σώματι γενομένη μεριστῷ ὄντι ἄλλο καὶ ἄλλο μέρος ἐπέχει τοῦ σώματος εἰς τὰς διαφόρους αὐτῆς ἐνεργείας. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ ⟨ἡ⟩ αὐτὴ κεφαλὴν ἔχει καὶ θώρακα καὶ τοῦ ποτ᾽ ἧπαρ, ἀλλ᾽ αἱ διὰ τούτων διάφοροι ἐνέργειαι διαμεριστῶς καὶ μερῶν γιγνόμεναι διαφόρων τοῦ σώματος ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνων αὐτῇ τῶν μερῶν μερισμὸν ἐπανέθεσαν.
25a.10
Νικόλαος δὲ οὐκ ἠξίου τὰ μέρη τῆς ψυχῆς κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν λαμβάνειν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον κατὰ τὸ ποιόν, ὥσπερ καὶ τέχνης καὶ φιλοσοφίας· ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ ποσοῦ τὸ ὅλον ἐκ τῶν μερῶν συμπληροῦται καὶ γίνεται ὡς κατὰ τὴν πρὸς ἕτερον ἀντεξέτασιν πλέον ἢ ἔλαττον, ἢ μικρότερον ἢ μεῖζον, προστιθεμένου μέρους ἢ ἀφαιρουμένου. Ψυχῆς δὲ ⟨οὐχ⟩ οὕτως λέγομεν εἶναι μέρη (οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὸ ποσὸν αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τούτων συμπληροῦται, οὔτε γὰρ μέγεθός ἐστιν, οὔτε τι ἔχει πλῆθος), ἀλλ᾽ ὡς τέχνης μέρη.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 110925a.9 · One soul, activities in different bodily regions
How, then, is soul without parts and yet threefold? Those who understand the soul’s parts quantitatively are understandably puzzled about how it can be both without parts and threefold. They resolve the difficulty by saying that, according to its own account and in itself, it is without parts, but that it is threefold in so far as, coming to be in a divisible body, it occupies different parts of that body for its different activities. For it is certainly not ⟨the⟩ soul itself that possesses a head, a chest, and a liver; rather, the different activities occurring through these, distributed among different bodily parts, have transferred division back to the soul from those parts.1377
25a.10 · Nicolaus: qualitative divisions
Nicolaus did not think that the parts of the soul should be understood quantitatively, but rather qualitatively, like the parts of an art or of philosophy. In the case of quantity, the whole is completed from its parts and, in comparison with something else, becomes more or less, smaller or greater, when a part is added or removed. But we do ⟨not⟩ speak of parts of soul in this way. Its quantity is not completed by them, since it is neither a magnitude nor possessed of a plurality. We speak instead as we do of the parts of an art.1378
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.25a.9–I.49.25a.10
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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.
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