Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

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Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 9 · II.9.6.6–II.9.6.7

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 335 of 516

Book II Chapter 9 · II.9.6.6–II.9.6.7

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Ancient Greek

p. 666

Εὐσεβίου — συνέχεια

II.9.6.6

„ψυχαὶ ἀνθρώπων, φύσιν ἔχουσαι θνηταί τε εἶναι καὶ ἀθάνατοι καὶ ζωῇ μὲν τῇ ἐπὶ γῆς νομιζομένῃ θανάτῳ ἐγκυρέουσαι, θανάτῳ δὲ τῷ δοκέοντι αὐτόθι ζωὴν ἀπολαμβάνουσαι, ἐπεὰν χρόνου τοῦ τεταγμένου ὑμῖν ἀνυσθέντος αὖτις ἀπολυθῆτε σώματος, τοῦ ἐν τῷ αὐτόθι θανάτῳ ὑποδεξαμένου ὑμέας, διαδέξονται αὖτις ὑμέας τρόπον τῆς ἐπὶ γῆς ζωῆς βίοι οἱ ὀφειλόμενοι·

Εὐσεβίου — συνέχεια

II.9.6.7

καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παραινέω, θεοῦ μεγάλου Ἑρμέω καὶ θεῶν τῶν λοιπῶν προφήτης τε καὶ σύμβουλος λόγος, καὶ ἀπειθεούσῃσι μὲν προλέγω θνητὰ κακά, πειθομένῃσι δὲ ἀγαθὰ ἔσεσθαι τοῖσι τῶν θεῶν ὁμοιεύμενα.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 9

p. 667

Eusebius continued

II.9.6.6

“Souls of human beings, whose nature is to be mortal as well as immortal, who encounter death in what is called life on earth and receive life again in what seems death there:⁹³⁵ when the time appointed for you has run its course and you are again released from the body that received you in death there, the lives due to you, corresponding to your earthly life, will receive you again.⁹³⁶

Eusebius continued

II.9.6.7

And that is why I counsel you—I, Reason, prophet and counselor of the great god Hermes and of the other gods.⁹³⁷ For those who disobey I foretell mortal evils, while for those who obey there will be good things like those of the gods.⁹³⁸

935.The address belongs to Reason’s speech. Its contrast reverses ordinary descriptions of life and death: earthly life is called an encounter with death, while what seems death there returns life to the soul. The body’s receiving the souls in death belongs to that same contrast.

936.Βίοι οἱ ὀφειλόμενοι are the lives due or owed to the souls. Their correspondence with the earthly life is expressed by τρόπον τῆς ἐπὶ γῆς ζωῆς. The address does not promise an identical fate to every soul; the next unit distinguishes the consequences of obedience and disobedience.

937.The first-person speaker now names himself as λόγος, Reason, resuming the figure introduced by the narrator. Hermes is explicitly named as the great god, alongside the other gods. Προφήτης can mean a prophet or spokesman; these are Reason’s roles within the imagined proclamation.

938.The printed θνητά, mortal, is retained despite the following warning about enduring harms. The apparatus proposes replacements meaning unending or immortal; those are not used in the translation. The Ionic ὁμοιεύμενα describes the promised goods as like those of the gods.

About This Reading Edition

The complete surviving text of Stobaeus’s second book, through II.46.22, in Ancient Greek and English, with an introduction and 1,541 explanatory notes. All forty-six chapter headings remain, including the notices for chapters whose texts are missing.

Historical Text and Translation

Greek: Curt Wachsmuth, Ioannis Stobaei Anthologii libri duo priores, volumen II (Berlin: Weidmann, 1884), printed p. 1 and pp. 3–264. The supplied edition preserves consequential editorial signs, reconstructed joins, qualified attributions, and missing-text notices. English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes: Diotimos Editions, 2026.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 edition are in the public domain. The supplied English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are published with the site owner’s authorization.