Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 740 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.60.11–I.49.60.13
Ancient Greek
p. 147660.11
Ὅταν δὲ φιλονεικίαις σκληραῖς καὶ φονικαῖς ὠμότησιν ἔκ τινος διαφορᾶς ἢ δυσμενείας ἐξηγριωμένον ἔχουσα παντάπασιν ἡ ψυχὴ τὸ θυμοειδὲς εἰς δευτέραν γένεσιν ἀφίκηται, πλήρης οὖσα προσφάτου πικρίας καὶ βαρυφρόνης, ἔρριψεν ἑαυτὴν εἰς λύκου φύσιν ἢ λέοντος, ὥσπερ ὄργανον ἀμυντικὸν τὸ σῶμα τῷ κρατοῦντι προϊεμένη πάθει καὶ περιαρμόσασα.
60.12
Διὸ δεῖ μάλιστα περὶ τὸν θάνατον, ὥσπερ ἐν τελετῇ, καθαρεύοντα παντὸς ἀπέχειν πάθους φαύλου τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν χαλεπὴν κοιμήσαντα καὶ φθόνους καὶ δυσμενείας καὶ ὀργὰς ἀπωτάτω τιθέμενον τοῦ φρονοῦντος ἐκβαίνειν τοῦ σώματος.
60.13
Οὕτως ὁ χρυσόρραπις Ἑρμῆς ἀληθῶς ὁ λόγος ἐντυγχάνων καὶ δεικνύων ἐναργῶς τὸ καλόν, ἢ παντάπασιν εἴργει καὶ ἀπέχει τοῦ κυκεῶνος, ἢ πιοῦσαν ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ βίῳ καὶ ἤθει διαφυλάττει πλεῖστον χρόνον, ὡς ἀνυστόν ἐστι.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 147760.11 · Anger seeks the body of a predator
But when a soul arrives at a second birth with its spirited part utterly brutalized by harsh rivalries and murderous cruelties arising from some quarrel or hostility, full of recent bitterness and resentfulness, it casts itself into the nature of a wolf or lion. It offers its body to the ruling passion as an instrument of retaliation and fits it around that passion.1770
60.12 · Purification at the approach of death
Therefore, especially at the approach of death, one must, as in an initiation, keep oneself pure and hold the soul apart from every base passion. Having lulled every violent desire to sleep and placed envy, hostility, and anger as far as possible from the faculty of understanding, one must leave the body.1771
60.13 · Hermes as guiding reason
In this way Hermes of the golden wand, who is in truth reason, meets the soul and clearly shows it what is noble. He either bars it entirely and keeps it away from the mixed draught, or, if it has drunk, preserves it in a human life and character for the longest time possible.1772
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.60.11–I.49.60.13
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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.