Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 95 of 879
Book I Chapter 5 · I.5.20–I.5.21
Ancient Greek
p. 18620 Ἑρμοῦ ἐκ τῶν πρὸς Ἄμμωνα
Πάντα δὲ γίνεται φύσει καὶ εἱμαρμένῃ καὶ οὐκ ἔστι τόπος ἔρημος προνοίας. Πρόνοια δέ ἐστιν αὐτοτελὴς λόγος τοῦ ἐπουρανίου θεοῦ. Δύο δὲ τούτου αὐτοφυεῖς δυνάμεις, ἀνάγκη καὶ εἱμαρμένη. Ἡ δὲ εἱμαρμένη ὑπηρετεῖ προνοίᾳ καὶ ἀνάγκῃ, τῇ δὲ εἱμαρμένῃ ὑπηρετοῦσιν οἱ ἀστέρες. Οὔτε γὰρ εἱμαρμένην φυγεῖν τις δύναται, οὔτε φυλάξαι ἑαυτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς τούτων δεινότητος. Ὅπλον γὰρ εἱμαρμένης οἱ ἀστέρες, κατὰ γὰρ ταύτην πάντα ἀποτελοῦσι τῇ φύσει καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις.
21 Πλάτωνος Πολιτείας
Ἐπειδὴ δ’ οὖν πάσας τὰς ψυχὰς τοὺς βίους ᾑρῆσθαι, ὥσπερ ἔλαχον, ἐν τάξει προσιέναι πρὸς τὴν Λάχεσιν· ἐκείνην δ’ ἑκάστῳ, ὃν εἵλετο δαίμονα, τοῦτον φύλακα ξυμπέμπειν τοῦ βίου καὶ ἀποπληρωτὴν τῶν αἱρεθέντων. ὃν πρῶτον μὲν ἄγειν αὐτὴν πρὸς τὴν Κλωθὼ ὑπὸ τὴν ἐκείνης χεῖρά τε καὶ ἐπιστροφὴν τῆς τοῦ ἀτράκτου δίνης, κυροῦντα ἣν λαχὼν εἵλετο μοῖραν. ταύτης δ’ ἐφαψάμενον αὖθις ἐπὶ ⟨τὴν⟩ τῆς Ἀτρόπου ἄγειν νῆσιν, ἀμετάστροφα τὰ ἐπικλωσθέντα ποιοῦντα. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ δὴ ἀμεταστρεπτεὶ ὑπὸ τὸν τῆς Ἀνάγκης ἰέναι θρόνον· καὶ δι’ ἐκείνου διεξελθόντα, ἐπειδὴ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διῆλθον, πορεύεσθαι ἅπαντας εἰς τὸ τῆς Λήθης πεδίον.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 5
p. 18720 Hermes, from the writings to Ammon
Everything happens by nature and fate, and no place is devoid of providence. Providence is the self-complete rational principle of the heavenly God. Necessity and fate are two powers native to him. Fate serves providence and necessity, and the stars serve fate. No one can escape fate or protect himself from the formidable power of the stars. For the stars are fate’s instrument: in accordance with it, they bring everything to fulfillment in nature and for human beings.204
21 Plato, Republic
When all the souls had chosen their lives, they approached Lachesis in the order in which they had drawn lots. She sent with each the divine spirit it had chosen, to guard its life and bring its choices to fulfillment.205 This spirit first led the soul to Clotho, beneath her hand and the turning whirl of the spindle, confirming the lot the soul had chosen when its turn came. After contact with Clotho, the spirit led the soul on to ⟨the⟩ spinning of Atropos, making what had been spun irreversible. From there the soul went without turning back beneath the throne of Necessity. When it had passed through and the others had also passed through, all the souls traveled to the plain of Forgetfulness.206
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 5 · I.5.20–I.5.21
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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.