Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 564 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.28.1–I.49.28.2
Ancient Greek
p. 112428.1 · Πλάτωνος Τιμαίου
Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Τιμαίου.
Τὴν δὲ δὴ ψυχὴν οὐχ ὡς νῦν ὑστέραν ἐπιχειροῦμεν λέγειν, οὕτως ἐμηχανήσατο καὶ ὁ θεὸς νεωτέραν· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἄρχεσθαι ὁ θεὸς πρεσβύτερον ἀπὸ νεωτέρου συνέξας εἴασεν· ἀλλά πως ἡμεῖς πολὺ μετέχοντες τοῦ προστυχόντος τε καὶ εἰκῇ ταύτῃ πῃ καὶ λέγομεν, ὁ δὲ καὶ γενέσει καὶ ἀρετῇ ⟨προτέραν⟩ καὶ πρεσβυτέραν ψυχὴν σώματος ὡς δεσπότιν καὶ ἄρξουσαν ἀρξομένου ξυνεστήσατο ἐκ τῶνδέ τε καὶ τοιῷδε τρόπῳ.
28.2
Τῆς ἀμερίστου καὶ ἀεὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἐχούσης οὐσίας καὶ τῆς αὖ περὶ τὰ σώματα γιγνομένης μεριστῆς, τρίτον ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἐν μέσῳ συνεκεράσατο οὐσίας εἶδος, τῆς τε ταὐτοῦ φύσεως αὖ πέρι καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἑτέρου, καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ξυνέστησεν ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ τε ἀμεροῦς αὐτῶν καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὰ σώματα μεριστοῦ.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 112528.1 · Plato: soul’s priority to body
From Plato’s Timaeus.
Although we are now attempting to speak of soul after body, god did not accordingly devise it as younger. For god, having bound them together, would not have allowed the older to be ruled by the younger. We, however, share greatly in chance and heedlessness, and so speak in much the same fashion. He constituted soul as ⟨prior⟩ to body and older both in origin and in excellence, as its mistress and ruler, with body to be ruled. He made it from the following ingredients and in the following way.1394
28.2 · Being, sameness, and difference
From the indivisible being that always remains the same and the divisible being that comes to be in connection with bodies, he blended a third kind of being, intermediate between the two. Likewise, in the case of the nature of the same and that of the different, he constituted them in the same way, intermediate between their indivisible aspect and the aspect divided in connection with bodies.1395
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.28.1–I.49.28.2
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.
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