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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.68.4–I.49.68.6
Ancient Greek
p. 153068.4
Καθάπερ οὐδὲ τὸ λαμβανόμενον ἐκ τῶν κάτω ἀγγείων ὕδωρ ἔτι τοὺς αὐτοὺς τόπους ὅθεν ἐλήφθη ἐπέχειν ἐστὶ δυνατόν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ αὐτὸ παραντίκα λαμβανόμενον καὶ χεόμενον τὴν ἰδίαν λαμβάνει χώραν, πλὴν ἀναμίγνυται τῷ παντὶ τοῦ ὕδατος χύματι. Ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔχει οὕτως, ὦ μεγαλόφρων Ὧρε.
68.5
Μύστης δὲ ὥσπερ τῆς ἀθανάτου φύσεως καὐτὴ τυγχάνουσα καὶ ἀδευκυῖα διὰ τοῦ πεδίου τῆς Ἀληθείας διεξελεύσομαί σοι τῶν ὄντων τὸ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον, ἐκεῖνό σοι φήσασα πρῶτον,
68.6
Ὡς δὴ τὸ ὕδωρ σῶμά ἐστιν ἄλογον, ἐκ πολλῶν συγκριμάτων παρατεθλιμμένον εἰς χύσιν, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ πρᾶγμα ἰδιοφυές, τέκνον, καὶ βασιλικὸν καὶ ἔργον τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ χειρῶν τε καὶ νοῦ, αὐτό θ᾽ ἑαυτῷ εἰς νοῦν ὁδηγούμενον.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 153168.4 · The comparison with poured water
“Water taken from vessels here below cannot still occupy the very places from which it was taken. Even when it is immediately taken up and poured out, it does not recover its own place, but mingles with the whole mass of water. Yet the soul’s case is not like this, high-minded Horus.”1840
68.5 · The Plain of Truth
“Being myself, as it were, an initiate into the immortal nature, and having passed through the Plain of Truth, I shall explain existing things to you one by one, beginning by telling you this:”1841
68.6 · The soul’s distinctive nature
“Water is a body without reason, pressed out of many compounds into a fluid mass. The soul, however, my child, is a thing of distinctive nature and royal character, a work of the god’s hands and intellect, itself guiding itself toward intellect.”1842
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.68.4–I.49.68.6
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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.