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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.49.36.4–I.49.36.5

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 591 of 879

Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.36.4–I.49.36.5

Ancient Greek

p. 1178

36.4

I.49.36.4

Οὐκοῦν ὥσπερ ζωὴ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἦν διττή, ἡ μὲν χωριστὴ τοῦ σώματος, ἡ δὲ κοινὴ μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ, οὕτω καὶ ἐνεργήματα ⟨τὰ⟩ μὲν ἴδια ἔσται τῆς ψυχῆς, τὰ δὲ κοινὰ καὶ τοῦ ἔχοντος. Καὶ τούτων τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς προκατάρχοντα, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ σώματος παθημάτων ἐγειρόμενα, τὰ δὲ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἐπίσης ἀνακινούμενα· πάντα δὲ ὡς ἀπ᾽ αἰτίας τῆς ψυχῆς ὡρμημένα.

36.5

I.49.36.5

Ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ναῦν φορᾶς κοινῆς οὔσης πρὸς τὸν κυβερνήτην καὶ τὸν ἄνεμον, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα τοιαῦτά ἐστιν, ὡς ἄνευ αὐτῶν μὴ γίνεσθαι τὴν κίνησιν, ὁ δὲ κυβερνήτης καὶ ὁ ἄνεμος τὴν κυριωτάτην αἰτίαν περιέχουσιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τῆς φορᾶς, οὕτως ἄρα καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτή τε ὅλῳ χρῆται τῷ σώματι καὶ τὰ ἔργα μεταχειρίζεται, ὡς ὄργανον ἢ ὄχημα τὸ σῶμα περιέχουσα·

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Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1179

36.4 · Two lives and their operations

I.49.36.4

Accordingly, just as life for him was twofold, one life separate from the body and the other shared with it, so too, among operations, ⟨some⟩ will belong to soul alone, while others will be shared also by that which possesses it. Of these, some originate first from soul; others are awakened by the body’s affections; and others are stirred equally by both. Yet all have their impulse from soul as their cause.1451

36.5 · The helmsman, the wind, and the ship

I.49.36.5

When the movement of a ship depends jointly on the helmsman and the wind, the other factors are such that motion cannot occur without them; but the helmsman and the wind contain within themselves its principal cause. So too soul itself both uses the entire body and carries out its functions, encompassing the body as an instrument or vehicle;1452

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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.