Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.68.22–I.49.68.24
Ancient Greek
p. 154268.22
Ἡ δὲ τρίτη χωρῶν ἐστὶν ἑκκαίδεκα, ἀέρος λεπτοῦ καὶ καθαροῦ πλήρης. Ἡ δὲ τετάρτη ἐστὶ δύο καὶ τριάκοντα, ἐν αἷς ἐστι λεπτότατος καὶ εἰλικρινέστατος ἀὴρ καὶ διαυγής, διορίζων ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς ἄνω οὐρανούς, ἐκπύρους ὄντας τὴν φύσιν.
68.23
Καὶ ἔστιν ἡ διάταξις αὕτη κατ᾽ εὐθυτενῆ γραμμὴν ἄνωθεν κάτω ἀκολλητὶ τὴν φύσιν, ὡς εἶναι μοίρας γενικὰς μὲν τέσσαρας, διαστηματικὰς δὲ δώδεκα, χώρας δὲ ἑξήκοντα.
68.24
Ἐν δὲ ταῖς χώραις ταύταις, ἑξήκοντα οὔσαις τὸν ἀριθμόν, οἰκοῦσιν αἱ ψυχαί, ἑκάστη πρὸς ἣν ἔχει φύσιν, μιᾶς μὲν καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς συστάσεως οὖσαι, οὐκέτι δὲ τιμῆς. Ὅσῳ γὰρ ἑκάστη τῶν χωρῶν ἀπὸ γῆς ὑπερβέβηκε τῆς ἑτέρας, τοσούτῳ καὶ ⟨αἱ⟩ ἐν αὐταῖς ψυχαὶ ἑτέρα τὴν ἑτέραν καθ᾽ ὑπεροχὴν λείπει, ὦ τέκνον, χώρᾳ καὶ τύχῃ.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 154368.22 · The third and fourth divisions
“The third contains sixteen regions, filled with fine and pure air. The fourth contains thirty-two, in which the air is finest, purest, and transparent, itself marking the boundary of the heavens above, whose nature is fiery.”1858
68.23 · The arrangement in numbers
“This arrangement extends in a straight line from above downward, its parts naturally without adhesion: there are four broad divisions, twelve spatial divisions, and sixty regions.”1859
68.24 · The same constitution, different standing
“In these regions, sixty in number, souls dwell, each according to its nature. They have one and the same constitution, but not the same standing. For by as much as each region rises farther from the earth than another, by so much do ⟨the⟩ souls within them leave one another behind in superiority, my child, in place and condition.”1860
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.68.22–I.49.68.24
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.