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.49.38.1–I.49.38.2

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 602 of 879

Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.38.1–I.49.38.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 1200

38.1 · Ἐν ταὐτῷ

I.49.38.1

Ἐν ταὐτῷ· περὶ μέτρου ψυχῆς.

Οἱ μὲν δὴ μίαν οὐσίαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀριθμῷ τιθέμενοι, πληθύουσαν δὲ αὐτήν, ὡς Ἀμέλιος οἴεται, σχέσεσι καὶ κατατάξεσιν, ἤ, ὡς οἱ Ὀρφικοὶ λέγουσιν, ἐπιπνοίαις ἀπὸ τῆς ὅλης,

38.2

I.49.38.2

ἔπειτα ἀνασχέοντες ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῆς ὅλης ἐπὶ τὴν μίαν ψυχὴν ἀποθεμένην τὰς σχέσεις καὶ τὰς εἰς ἕτερον κατατάξεις καὶ ἀναλύοντες ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς τὰ μεταλαβόντα διαιρέσεως, ἀπολυομένης τῆς τῶν μετασχόντων διαλήψεως, τηροῦσιν αὐτὴν ὅλην πανταχοῦ τὴν αὐτήν, μίαν οὐσίαν τε αὐτῇ διδόασι καθ᾽ ἓν πεπερασμένην.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1201

38.1 · The measure of soul: unity and plurality

I.49.38.1

In the same work: on the measure of soul.

Some posit one substance of soul in number, yet hold that it becomes multiple through relations and assignments, as Amelius thinks, or through inspirations from the universal soul, as the Orphics say;¹⁴⁷³

38.2 · Returning multiplicity to unity

I.49.38.2

then, drawing back from the multiplicity of the whole to the one soul that has laid aside its relations and its assignments to another, and releasing it from division among its participants, as the distinction among those participants is dissolved, they preserve it whole and everywhere the same. They give it one substance, bounded by unity.¹⁴⁷⁴

1473.The heading continues the work attributed to Iamblichus as On the Soul. “Measure” concerns the unity, number, and possible infinitude of souls. The text adopts Wachsmuth’s correction plēthyousan, making soul itself become multiple. Katataxeis are placements or assignments to an order; epipnoiai suggests inspirations or breathings into recipients. “Universal soul” renders hē holē, the whole soul, without adding a new named source.

1474.The participles continue the subject of the preceding unit. The difficult anascheontes is rendered provisionally “drawing back”: the apparatus expects the sense of restraining or contracting multiplicity and discusses several repairs, none adopted here. The printed apothemenēn agrees with soul. The argument removes divisions associated with participants while retaining the identity of the whole soul; it does not state that a spatially extended substance is being compressed.

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.