Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 669 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.45.19–I.49.45.20
Ancient Greek
p. 133445.19
τοὺς δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν ἄρκτον πρωτεύοντας τοὺς πόδας καὶ ἄλλους εὐκνήμους· τοὺς δὲ μετὰ τούτους καὶ μικρῷ πόρρω τὸ νῦν Ἰταλικὸν κλίμα ⟨κατοικοῦντας⟩ καὶ τὸ Ἑλλαδικόν, πάντας δὴ τούτους καλλιμήρους εἶναι καὶ εὐπυγοτέρους, ὥστε τῇ τοῦ κάλλους τῶν μερῶν τούτων ὑπερβολῇ καὶ τοὺς ἐνταῦθα ἀνθρώπους καταβαίνειν πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀρρένων ὁμιλίαν. Πάντα δὲ ταῦτα τὰ μέρη πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα ἀργὰ ὄντα ἀργοτέρους ἤνεγκε καὶ τοὺς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀνθρώπους.
45.20
Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τῆς γῆς κεῖται ἡ τῶν προγόνων ἡμῶν ἱερωτάτη χώρα, τὸ δὲ μέσον τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου σώματος μόνης τῆς καρδίας ἐστὶ σηκός, τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς ὁρμητήριόν ἐστι καρδία, παρὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν, ὦ τέκνον, ⟨οἱ⟩ ἐνταῦθα ἄνθρωποι τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἔχουσιν οὐχ ἧττον ὅσα καὶ πάντες, ἐξαίρετον δὲ τῶν πάντων νοεροί εἰσι καὶ σώφρονες, ὡς ἂν ἐπὶ καρδίας γενόμενοι καὶ τραφέντες.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 133545.19 · The northern legs and the regions of the thighs
those beneath the Bear excel in their feet, and others have fine lower legs. Those next after them, a little farther away, ⟨inhabiting⟩ what is now the Italian region and the Greek region, all have beautiful thighs and especially fine buttocks, so that the surpassing beauty of these parts leads the people there even to intercourse with males. All these parts, being inactive in comparison with the others, have also produced more inactive inhabitants.1612
45.20 · Egypt as the earth’s heart
But our ancestors’ most sacred country lies in the middle of the earth. The middle of the human body is the enclosure of the heart alone, and the heart is the soul’s starting place. For this reason, my child, ⟨the⟩ people here possess no less of all the other qualities than everyone else, but are exceptionally intelligent and temperate above them all, having been born and brought up at the heart.1613
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.45.19–I.49.45.20
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.