Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 679 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.48.1–I.49.48.2
Ancient Greek
p. 135448.1
Ἑρμοῦ ἐκ τῶν πρὸς Τάτ. Οὐκ ἤκουσας ἐν τοῖς γενικοῖς, ὅτι ἀπὸ μιᾶς ψυχῆς, τῆς τοῦ παντός, πᾶσαι αἱ ψυχαί εἰσιν αὗται, ⟨αἱ⟩ ἐν τῷ παντὶ κόσμῳ κυλινδούμεναι, ὥσπερ ἀπονενεμημέναι; Τούτων τοίνυν τῶν ψυχῶν πολλαὶ αἱ μεταβολαί, τῶν μὲν εἰς τὸ εὐτυχέστερον, τῶν δ᾽ εἰς τὸ ἐναντίον.
48.2
Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἑρπετώδεις οὖσαι εἰς ἔνυδρα μεταβάλλουσιν, αἱ δὲ ἔνυδροι εἰς χερσαῖα, αἱ δὲ χερσαῖαι εἰς πετεινά, αἱ δὲ ἀέριαι εἰς ἀνθρώπους, αἱ δὲ ἀνθρώπιναι ἀρχὴν ἀθανασίας ἴσχουσαι εἰς δαίμονας μεταβάλλουσιν, εἶθ᾽ οὕτως εἰς τὸν τῶν θεῶν χορόν· χοροὶ δὲ δύο θεῶν, ὁ μὲν τῶν πλανωμένων, ὁ δὲ τῶν ἀπλανῶν. Καὶ αὕτη ψυχῆς ἡ τελειοτάτη δόξα. Ψυχὴ δὲ εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐλθοῦσα ἐὰν κακὴ μείνῃ, οὔποτε τεύξεται ἀθανασίας, παλίσσυτος δὲ τὴν ὁδὸν ὑποστρέψει τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ ἑρπετά. Καὶ αὕτη καταδίκη ψυχῆς κακῆς.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 135548.1 · Hermes to Tat: one soul and many souls
Hermes, from the writings addressed to Tat. Have you not heard in the general teachings that all these souls come from one soul, the soul of the whole, ⟨those⟩ that roll about throughout the universe as though distributed into portions? These souls, then, undergo many changes, some toward a more fortunate condition, others toward its opposite.1632
48.2 · Ascent and reversal through living forms
For souls in creeping creatures change into aquatic creatures; aquatic souls into land animals; terrestrial souls into birds; aerial souls into human beings. Human souls, attaining a beginning of immortality, change into daimons, and then in this way enter the company of the gods. There are two companies of gods, the wandering and the fixed. This is the soul’s most perfect glory. But a soul that has entered human beings, if it remains evil, will never attain immortality; driven backward, it will retrace the road toward creeping creatures. This is the condemnation of an evil soul.1633
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.48.1–I.49.48.2
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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.