Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 672 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.45.24–I.49.45.26
Ancient Greek
p. 134045.24
“Καὶ τοῦτό μοι, κυρία μῆτερ, ἔκθου· παρὰ ποίαν αἰτίαν ἔτι ζώντων ἀνθρώπων ἐν ταῖς μακραῖς νόσοις καὶ ὁ λόγος καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ λογισμὸς καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ψυχὴ ἔσθ᾽ ὅτε βλάπτεται;”
45.25
Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη Ἶσις· “Τῶν ζώντων, ὦ τέκνον, τὰ μὲν ᾠκείωται πρὸς τὸ πῦρ, τὰ δὲ πρὸς τὸ ὕδωρ, τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἀέρα, τὰ δὲ πρὸς γῆν, τὰ δὲ πρὸς τούτων δύο ἢ τρία, τὰ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰ ὅλα. Πάλιν αὖ τὰ μὲν ἀπηλλοτρίωται τοῦ πυρός, τὰ δὲ τοῦ ὕδατος, τὰ δὲ τῆς γῆς, τὰ δὲ τοῦ ἀέρος, τὰ δὲ δύο τούτων, τὰ δὲ τριῶν, τὰ δὲ τῶν ὅλων.
45.26
Οἷον ἀκρὶς μέν, ὦ τέκνον, καὶ πᾶσα μυῖα φεύγει τὸ πῦρ· ἀετὸς καὶ κίρκος καὶ ὅσα ὑψιπετέστερά ἐστιν τῶν ὀρνέων φεύγει τὸ ὕδωρ· ἰχθύες ἀέρα καὶ γῆν· ὄφις τὸν ἀέρα τὸν εἰλικρινῆ ἀποστρέφεται.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 134145.24 · Illness and the soul
“Explain this to me too, lady mother: for what reason, while people are still alive, are speech, reasoning itself, and the soul itself sometimes impaired in prolonged illnesses?”1617
45.25 · Affinity and aversion to the elements
Isis answered: “Among living things, my child, some have an affinity with fire, others with water, others with air, others with earth; some with two or three of these, and some with all of them. Conversely, some are averse to fire, others to water, others to earth, others to air; some to two of these, some to three, and some to all of them.1618
45.26 · Animals and the elements they avoid
For example, my child, the locust and every fly avoid fire. The eagle, the hawk, and those birds that fly higher avoid water; fish avoid air and earth; the snake turns away from pure air.1619
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.45.24–I.49.45.26
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.