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.49.44.60–I.49.44.61

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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.44.60–I.49.44.61

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Ancient Greek

p. 1296

44.60

I.49.44.60

Ταῦτα δὲ ὡς ἐγένετο καὶ ἐνεσωματίσθησαν αἱ ψυχαὶ καὶ ἐπαίνου ὑπὲρ τῶν γενομένων αὐτὸς ἔτυχεν, πάλιν ὁ μόναρχος σύγκλητον τῶν θεῶν ἐποίησε συνέδριον καὶ οἱ θεοὶ παρῆσαν καὶ πάλιν αὐτὸς ταῦτα οὕτως ἐφώνησε·

44.61

I.49.44.61

“Θεοί,” λέγων “ὅσοι τῆς κορυφαίας, ὅσοι καὶ ἀφθάρτου φύσεως τετεύχατε, οἱ τὸν μέγαν αἰῶνα διέπειν ἐς ἀεὶ κεκλήρωσθε, οἷς αὐτὰ ἑαυτοῖς ἀντιπαραδιδόντα οὐδέποτε κοπιάσει τὰ σύμπαντα, μέχρι πότε τῆς ἀνεπιγνώστου ταύτης δεσπόσομεν ἡγεμονίας; μέχρι πότε ἀθεώρητα γενήσεται ταῦτα ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ; ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῷ γεννάτω· ἀπαλείψωμεν τῷ δύνασθαι τὴν ἔτι ἀργὴν σύστασιν ταύτην· ἄπιστος τοῖς μεταγενεστέροις μῦθος δὴ δοξάτω χάος εἶναι· ἔργων ἅπτεσθε μεγάλων, ἐγὼ δ᾽ αὐτὸς ἄρξομαι πρῶτος”.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49

p. 1297

44.60 · The creator summons the gods again

I.49.44.60

When these things had happened, the souls had entered bodies, and he himself had received praise for what had been accomplished, the sole ruler again convened an assembly of the gods. The gods were present, and he once more spoke as follows:¹⁵⁷¹

44.61 · The gods are called to bring forth

I.49.44.61

“Gods,” he said, “you who have obtained the highest, imperishable nature, who have been allotted the governance of the great age forever, for whom all things will never tire of handing themselves over to one another: how long shall we hold mastery over this unrecognized dominion? How long will these things remain unseen by Sun and Moon? Let each of us bring forth on his own part. Let us use our power to erase this still idle condition. Let chaos come to seem an incredible tale to those who come after. Set your hands to great works; I myself shall begin first.”¹⁵⁷²

1571.The first “he himself” is most naturally Hermes, who has just acted; the sole ruler is then named as the convener. The pronoun’s referent is not explicitly supplied in the Greek. The narrative now returns to a divine assembly and the ordering of the visible world after already describing embodiment; its sequence is preserved.

1572.The clause about things handing themselves over to one another is difficult; the printed auta heautois is retained rather than simplified by deleting a pronoun. Aiōn is rendered “age,” with its perpetuity separately expressed. “Unrecognized dominion” preserves anepignōstou hēgemonias. The command uses “each of us,” as printed, although an alternative has “you.” The passage calls for the disappearance of an idle condition and for chaos to become a story of the past.

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.