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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 666 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.45.12–I.49.45.14
Ancient Greek
p. 132845.12
Ἡ δὲ διαφορὰ τοῦ τὰς μὲν βριμωδεστέρας εἶναι τὰς δὲ εὐαφεῖς ὁ ἀήρ ἐστι, τέκνον Ὧρε, ἐν ᾧ πάντα γίγνεται. Ἀὴρ δὲ ψυχῆς ἐστιν αὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα ὃ περιβέβληται, ὅπερ στοιχείων ἐστὶ φύραμα, γῆς καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀέρος καὶ πυρός.
45.13
Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸ μὲν τῶν θηλειῶν σύγκριμα πλεονάζει μὲν τῷ ὑγρῷ καὶ ψυχρῷ, λείπεται δὲ τῷ ξηρῷ καὶ θερμῷ, παρὰ τοῦτο ἡ εἰς τοιοῦτον πλάσμα συγκλειομένη ψυχὴ δίυγρος γίγνεται καὶ τρυφερά, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρρένων τὸ ἐναντίον ἐστὶ γιγνόμενον εὑρεῖν. Ἐπὶ γὰρ τούτοις πλεονάζει μὲν τὸ ξηρὸν καὶ [τὸ] θερμόν, λείπεται δὲ τὸ ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρόν· διὰ τοῦτο αἱ ἐν τοιούτοις σώμασι ψυχαὶ τραχεῖαι καὶ ἐργατικώτεραί εἰσιν.
45.14
“Πῶς γίγνονται αἱ ψυχαὶ συνεταί, ὦ τεκοῦσα;” Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη Ἶσις· “Τὸ ὁρατικόν, ὦ τέκνον, περιβέβληται χιτῶσιν. Ὅταν οὗτοι οἱ χιτῶνες πυκνοὶ ὦσι καὶ παχεῖς, ἀμβλυωπεῖ ὁ ὀφθαλμός, ἐὰν δὲ ἀραιοὶ καὶ λεπτοί, τότε ὀξυωπέστατα βλέπει.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 132945.12 · The body as the soul’s surrounding air
The cause of the difference whereby some are more forceful and others gentle is the air, my child Horus, in which everything comes to be. The soul’s air is the very body with which it is clothed, a mixture of the elements: earth, water, air, and fire.1605
45.13 · Bodily mixtures and temperament
Since the female compound has an excess of moisture and cold but a deficiency of dryness and heat, the soul enclosed in such a fashioned body becomes moist through and through and tender. In males one finds the opposite occurring. In them dryness and [the] heat are in excess, while cold and moisture are deficient; therefore souls in such bodies are rough and more active.1606
45.14 · The eye as an analogy for understanding
“How do souls become intelligent, mother?” Isis answered: “The organ of sight, my child, is clothed in coverings. When these coverings are dense and thick, the eye sees dimly; when they are loose in texture and thin, it sees with the greatest sharpness.1607
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.45.12–I.49.45.14
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.