Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 49 · I.49.32.14–I.49.32.16

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Facing Pages · Branch 581 of 879

Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.32.14–I.49.32.16

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Ancient Greek

p. 1158

32.14

I.49.32.14

Περὶ δὴ ταύτας τὰς δόξας ὅ τε Πλάτων αὐτὸς καὶ ὁ Πυθαγόρας, ὅ τε Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ ἀρχαῖοι πάντες, ὧν ὀνόματα μεγάλα ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ ὑμνεῖται, τελέως ἐπιστρέφονται, εἴ τις αὐτῶν τὰς δόξας ἀνιχνεύοι μετ᾽ ἐπιστάσεως· ἡμεῖς τε περὶ αὐτὰς τὴν μετ᾽ ἀληθείας πραγματείαν πᾶσαν πειρασόμεθα ἐνστήσασθαι.

32.15

I.49.32.15

Τινὲς δὲ τῶν φυσικῶν σύνοδον τῶν ἐναντίων συνυφαίνουσιν, οἷον θερμοῦ καὶ ⟨ψυχροῦ⟩, ξηροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῆν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναζεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναψύχεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ ὠνομάσθαι ἀποφαίνονται, καὶ ἅμα ἐπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων [ἢ] τὸν ἀναπνεόμενον ἀέρα ψυχὴν νομίζουσιν·

32.16

I.49.32.16

ὥσπερ Ἀριστοτέλης μὲν ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς ἔπεσί φησι λέγεσθαι τὴν ψυχὴν εἰσιέναι ἐκ τοῦ ὅλου ἀναπνεόντων ἡμῶν φερομένην ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων· ἔοικέ γε μὴν αὐτὸς ὁ Ὀρφεὺς χωρὶς ὑπολαμβάνειν εἶναι καὶ μίαν τὴν ψυχήν, ἀφ᾽ ἧς πολλὰς μὲν εἶναι διαιρέσεις, πολλὰς δὲ καὶ ἀμέσους ἐπιπνοίας καθήκειν ἐπὶ τὰς μεριστὰς ψυχὰς ἀπὸ τῆς ὅλης ψυχῆς.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1159

32.14 · The author’s preferred account

I.49.32.14

Plato himself, Pythagoras, Aristotle, and all the ancients whose great names are celebrated for wisdom turn wholly toward these opinions, if one traces their views with careful attention. We too shall endeavor to establish our entire truthful investigation upon them.¹⁴²⁷

32.15 · Heat, cooling, and breath

I.49.32.15

Some natural philosophers weave soul together as a conjunction of opposites, such as hot and ⟨cold⟩, dry and wet. They declare that living takes its name from boiling up under the action of heat, and soul from being cooled under the action of cold; and, in connection with both together, they regard [or] the air that is breathed as soul;¹⁴²⁸

32.16 · Orphic verses and the one soul

I.49.32.16

just as Aristotle says that, in the Orphic verses, soul is said to enter from the whole as we breathe, borne by the winds. Orpheus himself, however, seems to suppose that soul exists separately and as one: from it there are many divisions, and many immediate inspirations descend from the whole soul upon the individual souls.¹⁴²⁹

1427.The author now declares his own allegiance. His claim that the named ancients converge on these opinions is part of his interpretation and is not an independent editorial judgment about all their works. Epistasis here is attentive consideration. The prospective “shall endeavor” is retained.

1428.The proposed word connections are zēn, “to live,” with anazein, “to boil up,” and psychē, “soul,” with anapsychesthai, “to be cooled.” They are the ancient account’s explanations of the names. Supplied “cold” and rejected “or” remain marked. The construction “in connection with both” is kept without supplying a more specific mechanism of breathing.

1429.The source cites Aristotle, On the Soul I.5, 410b27 and following. The excerpt distinguishes Aristotle’s report of Orphic verses from its own qualified interpretation of Orpheus: “seems” remains. Epipnoiai are breath-like inspirations or influences; “immediate” follows amesous. Meristai, literally divided or divisible, is rendered “individual” for the recipient souls.

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.