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.49.37.14–I.49.37.15

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Facing Pages · Branch 599 of 879

Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.37.14–I.49.37.15

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Ancient Greek

p. 1194

37.14

I.49.37.14

Ἤδη τοίνυν καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς Πλατωνικοῖς πολλοὶ διαστασιάζουσιν, οἱ μὲν εἰς μίαν σύνταξιν καὶ μίαν ἰδέαν τὰ εἴδη καὶ τὰ μόρια τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τὰ ἐνεργήματα συνάγοντες, ὥσπερ Πλωτῖνός τε καὶ Πορφύριος· οἱ δὲ εἰς μάχην ταῦτα κατατείνοντες, ὥσπερ Νουμήνιος· οἱ δὲ ἐκ μαχομένων αὐτὰ συναρμόζοντες, ὥσπερ οἱ περὶ Ἀττικὸν καὶ Πλούταρχον. Καὶ οὗτοι μὲν προϋποκειμένων τῶν ἀτάκτων καὶ πλημμελῶν κινημάτων ἐπεισιέναι φασὶν ὕστερα τὰ κατακοσμοῦντα αὐτὰ καὶ διατάττοντα καὶ τὴν συμφωνίαν ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων οὕτως συνυφαίνουσι,

37.15

I.49.37.15

κατὰ μὲν Πλωτῖνον τῆς πρώτης ἑτερότητος, κατ᾽ Ἐμπεδοκλέα δὲ τῆς [πρώτης] ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ φυγῆς, καθ᾽ Ἡράκλειτον δὲ τῆς ἐν τῷ μεταβάλλεσθαι ἀναπαύλης, κατὰ δὲ τοὺς Γνωστικοὺς παρανοίας ἢ παρεκβάσεως, κατ᾽ Ἀλβῖνον δὲ τῆς τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου διημαρτημένης κρίσεως αἰτίας γινομένης τῶν καταγωγῶν ἐνεργημάτων·

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1195

37.14 · Unity, conflict, and harmony

I.49.37.14

There are, moreover, many disagreements among the Platonists themselves. Some, such as Plotinus and Porphyry, bring the forms and parts of life and its operations into a single order and form. Others, such as Numenius, draw them into conflict. Others harmonize them out of conflicting elements, as do the followers of Atticus and Plutarch. These last say that disorderly and discordant motions exist beforehand, and that the motions which order and arrange them enter subsequently. In this way they weave concord from both;¹⁴⁶⁸

37.15 · Causes of activities leading downward

I.49.37.15

the cause of activities leading downward being, according to Plotinus, primary otherness; according to Empedocles, the [first] flight from the god; according to Heraclitus, rest in the midst of change; according to the Gnostics, derangement or deviation; and according to Albinus, the mistaken judgment of free choice.¹⁴⁶⁹

1468.The report distinguishes three accounts: unity, conflict, and a harmony formed from prior conflict. “These last” refers to the group around Atticus and Plutarch. The source cites Numenius, fragment 49 in Thedinga’s edition; this is the edition’s reference system, not a newly verified modern numbering. The following causal catalogue begins with a loose grammatical transition.

1469.The English moves the causal phrase forward to make the series of genitives readable. The source compares Plotinus, Enneads IV.8.7, and gives older fragment references for Empedocles and Heraclitus; these are reported formulations, not newly introduced direct quotations. Wachsmuth rejects “first” before flight, and both languages retain the brackets. The unusual adjective katagōgōn is translated “leading downward”; its form was questioned by Heeren, but it remains in the print. Autexousion concerns self-determination or free choice.

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.