Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 627 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.44.13–I.49.44.14
Ancient Greek
p. 125044.13
Αὐτὸς δ᾽ οὐκέτι βουλόμενος ἀργὸν τὸν ὑπεράνω κόσμον εἶναι, ἀλλὰ πνευμάτων πληρῶσαι δοκιμάσας τοῦτον ὡς μὴ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀκίνητα καὶ ἀργὰ μένῃ, οὕτως εἰς ταῦτα ἤρξατο, τεχνιτείαις οὔσαις πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἰδίου ἔργου γένεσιν χρησάμενος ἱεραῖς. Πνεῦμα γὰρ ὅσον ἀρκετὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου λαβὼν καὶ νοερῷ τοῦτο πυρὶ μίξας ἀγνώστοις τισὶν ἑτέραις ὕλαις ἐκέρασε·
44.14
καὶ ταῦτα ἑκάτερον ἑκατέρῳ μετὰ τινων ἐπιφωνήσεων κρυπτῶν ἑνώσας τὸ πᾶν οὕτως εὖ μάλα διεκίνησε κρᾶμα, ἕως ἐπεγέλασέ τις ὕλη τῷ μίγματι λεπτοτέρα τε καὶ καθαρωτέρα μᾶλλον καὶ διαφανεστέρα ἢ ἐξ ὧν ἐγένετο, διειδὴς δὲ ἦν αὕτη, ἣν δὴ καὶ μόνος ὁ τεχνίτης ἑώρα.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 125144.13 · Breath, intellectual fire, and hidden materials
He himself no longer wished the world above to be idle, but resolved to fill it with spirits, so that its particular parts should not remain motionless and idle. Thus he began this work, using sacred arts for the production of his own creation. Taking a sufficient quantity of his own breath, he mixed it with intellectual fire and blended it with certain other, unknown materials;1524
44.14 · A subtler substance appears
and, uniting each with the other amid certain secret invocations, he stirred the entire compound thoroughly, until a substance smiled forth upon the mixture, subtler, purer, and more transparent than the materials from which it arose. This substance was translucent, and the craftsman alone could see it.1525
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.44.13–I.49.44.14
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.
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.