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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.55.3–I.49.55.4
Ancient Greek
p. 140455.3
Ἐπεὶ δὲ διήκει τὸ βαρὺ πνεῦμα καὶ ἔνυγρον ἄχρι τῶν ὑπογείων τόπων, οὕτω καὶ αὐτὴ λέγεται χωρεῖν ὑπὸ γῆν· οὐχ ὅτι ἡ ἄυλος οὐσία μεταβαίνει τόπους καὶ ἐν τόποις γίνεται, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι τῶν πεφυκότων σωμάτων τόπους μεταβαίνειν καὶ εἰληχέναι τόπον σχέσεις ἀναδέχεται, δεχομένων αὐτὴν κατὰ τὰς ἐπιτηδειότητας τῶν τοιούτων σωμάτων ἐκ τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ποιᾶς διαθέσεως· ὡς γὰρ ἂν διατεθῇ, εὑρίσκει σῶμα τάξει καὶ τοῖς οἰκείοις διωρισμένον.
55.4
Διὸ καθαρώτερον μὲν διακειμένῃ σύμφυτον τὸ ἐγγὺς τοῦ ἀΰλου σῶμα, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ αἰθέριον· προελθούσῃ δὲ ἐκ λόγου εἰς φαντασίας προβολὴν σύμφυτον τὸ ἡλιοειδές· θηλυνθείσῃ δὲ καὶ παθαινομένῃ πρὸς τὸ εἶδος παράκειται τὸ σεληνοειδές· πεσούσης δὲ εἰς σώματα, ὅταν κατὰ τὸ αὐτῆς ἄμορφον στῇ εἶδος ἐξ ὑγρῶν ἀναθυμιάσεων συνεστηκότα, ἄγνοια ἕπεται τοῦ ὄντος τελεία καὶ σκότωσις καὶ νηπιότης.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 140555.3 · How an immaterial soul is said to move
Since the heavy, moist breath extends as far as the regions underground, the soul itself too is said to pass beneath the earth. This does not mean that an immaterial substance changes places and comes to be in places, but that it assumes relations to bodies naturally capable of changing places and occupying a place. Such bodies receive it according to their capacities, in consequence of the soul’s own particular disposition. For whatever its disposition, it finds a body defined by its rank and its proper characteristics.1685
55.4 · Aetherial, sunlike, and moonlike bodies
Accordingly, when its disposition is purer, a body close to the immaterial is congenial to it, namely the aetherial body. When it proceeds from reason to the projection of imagination, the sunlike body is congenial to it. When it has become feminine and is affected with passion toward form, the moonlike body lies beside it. But when it falls into bodies constituted from moist exhalations, whenever it settles in accordance with its own formless form, complete ignorance of being follows, together with darkness and childishness.1686
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.55.3–I.49.55.4
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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.
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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.