Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 634 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.44.27–I.49.44.28
Ancient Greek
p. 126444.27
Αὗται τε, ὦ τέκνον, ὡς τι πράξασαι ἤδη καὶ περίεργον ὡπλίζοντο τόλμαν καὶ παρὰ τὰ διατεταγμένα ἐποίουν καὶ ἤδη τῶν ἰδίων τμημάτων καὶ ταμιείων προήρχοντο καὶ ἐφ᾽ ἑνὸς οὐκέτι ἤθελον τόπου μένειν, ἀεὶ δὲ ἐκινοῦντο καὶ τὸ [ἔτι] ἐπὶ μιᾶς μονῆς εἶναι θάνατον ἡγοῦντο.
44.28
Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν, φησίν, ὦ τέκνον, Ἑρμῆς, ὡς κἀμὲ [λέγων] καὶ τὸν τῶν ὅλων κύριον καὶ θεὸν οὐκ ἐλάνθανεν ἃ πράσσουσιν, κόλασιν δὲ αὐταῖς ἐπεζήτει καὶ δεσμόν, ὃν τλημόνως ὑπομενοῦσι. Καὶ δὴ καὶ ἔδοξε τῷ πάντων ἡγεμόνι καὶ δεσπότῃ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σύστημα τεχνήσασθαι, ὅπως ἐν τούτῳ τὸ τῶν ψυχῶν διαπαντὸς γένος κολάζηται.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 126544.27 · The souls leave their appointed places
These souls, my child, as though they had now accomplished something, armed themselves with meddlesome boldness and acted contrary to the commands. They began to leave their own divisions and chambers, no longer wished to remain in one place, and kept moving, regarding existence [still] in a single abode as death.1538
44.28 · Human embodiment is devised as punishment
Concerning this, my child, Hermes says: “Just as what they were doing did not escape me [saying], neither did it escape the lord and god of all things. He sought a punishment for them, and a bond they would endure in misery. The ruler and master of all therefore resolved to devise the human constitution, so that within it the race of souls might continually undergo punishment.”1539
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.44.27–I.49.44.28
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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.
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.