Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 94 of 879
Book I Chapter 5 · I.5.18–I.5.19
Ancient Greek
p. 18418 Ἐκ τῆς Ἰαμβλίχου πρὸς Σώπατρον ἐπιστολῆς
Τῆς δ’ εἱμαρμένης ἡ οὐσία σύμπασά ἐστιν ἐν τῇ φύσει· φύσιν δὲ λέγω τὴν ἀχώριστον αἰτίαν τοῦ κόσμου καὶ ἀχωρίστως περιέχουσαν τὰς ὅλας αἰτίας τῆς γενέσεως, ὅσα χωριστῶς αἱ κρείττονες οὐσίαι καὶ διακοσμήσεις συνειλήφασιν ἐν ἑαυταῖς. Ζωή τε οὖν σωματοειδὴς καὶ λόγος γενεσιουργός, τά τε ἔνυλα εἴδη καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ὕλη, ἥ τε συντεθειμένη γένεσις ἀπὸ τούτων, κίνησίς τε ἡ τὰ πάντα μεταβάλλουσα καὶ φύσις ἡ τεταγμένως διοικοῦσα τὰ γιγνόμενα, ἀρχαί τε αἱ τῆς φύσεως καὶ τέλη καὶ ποιήσεις, καὶ αἱ τούτων συνδέσεις πρὸς ἄλληλα ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς τε καὶ αἱ τοῦ τέλους διέξοδοι συμπληροῦσι τὴν εἱμαρμένην.
19 Πλουτάρχου ἐκ τοῦ Εἰ ἡ τῶν μελλόντων πρόγνωσις ὠφέλιμος
Τὸ γὰρ εἱμαρμένον ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀπαράβατον, “χὤπερ μόνον ὀφρύσι νεύσῃ, | καρτερὰ τούτῳ κέκλωστ’ ἀνάγκα” καὶ πεπρωμένη. Διὰ τοῦτο τὴν εἱμαρμένην καὶ Ἀδράστειαν καλοῦσιν, ὅτι πέρας ταῖς αἰτίαις ἠναγκασμένον ἐπιτίθησιν, ἀνέκφευκτος οὖσα καὶ ἀναπόδραστος.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 5
p. 18518 From Iamblichus’s letter to Sopater
The whole substance of fate is in nature. By nature I mean the inseparable cause of the cosmos, which inseparably contains the universal causes of coming-to-be: all that the higher substances and ordered structures have embraced separately within themselves.202
Thus life in bodily form and the rational principle that produces coming-to-be; forms in matter and matter itself; the coming-to-be compounded from these; movement that changes everything and nature that governs events in order; the principles of nature, its ends, and its productive activities; their connections with one another from the beginning and the processes by which the end is reached: all these together constitute fate.
19 Plutarch, from Whether Foreknowledge of the Future Is Beneficial
For what is fated is unalterable and cannot be transgressed: “And whatever he merely nods with his brows, for that strong necessity has been spun”; and so has destiny. For this reason they also call fate Adrasteia, because it imposes a necessary outcome upon causes, being inescapable and impossible to flee.203
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 5 · I.5.18–I.5.19
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.