Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 603 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.38.3–I.49.38.4
Ancient Greek
p. 120238.3
Οἱ δ᾽ ἐν ἀπείροις κόσμοις, ὥσπερ δὴ οἱ περὶ Δημόκριτον καὶ Ἐπίκουρον νομίζουσιν, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπείρων ἀτόμων κατὰ συντυχίαν συνερχομένων * * συνίστασθαι ἀπὸ τῶν τοιῶνδε στοιχείων τὰς ψυχὰς ἡγούμενοι ἀπείρους αὐτὰς εἶναι ἑπομένως ταῖς οἰκείαις ὑποθέσεσιν ἀποφαίνονται.
38.4
Καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐκ σπερμάτων αὐτὰς γεννῶντες ἑκάστου δυναμένου πολλὰ σπείρειν καὶ τοῦδε προϊόντος ἀεὶ καὶ οὐδαμῇ ἱσταμένου κατὰ τὴν γέννησιν καὶ ἐν τῷ γίγνεσθαι ἀεὶ τὸ ἄπειρον ἀπολείπουσιν. Οἱ δὲ κατὰ μεταβολὴν ἐξ ἑνὸς ζῴου φθειρομένου πολλὰ ζῷα καὶ πολλὰς ζωὰς παράγοντες ἐν τῷ μεταβάλλειν συνεχῶς καὶ μηδέποτε ἐπιλείπειν τὴν ἐκ τῆς μεταβολῆς διαδεχομένην ἀειγενεσίαν ταύτῃ τὸ ἀπέραντον πλῆθος τῶν ψυχῶν ἐπινοοῦσιν ἐν τῷ ἀεὶ πλεῖον γίγνεσθαι.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 120338.3 · Infinitely many worlds and souls
Others think that, in infinitely many worlds, as the followers of Democritus and Epicurus suppose, from infinitely many atoms coming together by chance * * souls are constituted from elements of this kind. In accordance with their own premises, they declare the souls to be infinite in number.1475
38.4 · Endless generation and transformation
Those who generate souls from seeds, each capable of sowing many more, leave infinity always in the process of coming-to-be, since this generative process goes on forever and nowhere stops. Those who produce many living beings and many lives by transformation from one living being that perishes conceive an unlimited multitude of souls through continuous transformation and the unceasing generation that succeeds it: the multitude always becomes greater.1476
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.38.3–I.49.38.4
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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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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.
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