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 8 · II.8.42.8–II.8.42.9

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 315 of 516

Book II Chapter 8 · II.8.42.8–II.8.42.9

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Ancient Greek

p. 626

Πορφυρίου — συνέχεια

II.8.42.8

Διὰ τί οὖν ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἀναφορᾷ φέρε καὶ κύων γεννᾶται καὶ ἀνὴρ καὶ γυνὴ καὶ πολλοὶ ἄνδρες καὶ πάντων οὔτε ὁ πρῶτος βίος ὁ αὐτὸς οὔτε ὁ δεύτερος; Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν εἴποιμ’ ἂν οὐχ οὕτως ταχυτέραν ταῖς ψυχαῖς πορείαν πάσαις, ὡς μὴ φθάσαι τὴν ἀναφορὰν τοῦ ὡροσκόπου τὴν ἐκείνων εἴσοδον· προλαμβανούσης δὲ ἀεὶ τῆς φορᾶς καὶ ἑκάστης κατὰ κλῆρον διαφορᾶς ἄλλο παράδειγμα βίου φερούσης, ἀνάγκη μηδέποτε συντρέχειν πάντῃ τοὺς δοκοῦντας ἐν τῇ ⟨αὐτῇ⟩ ὥρᾳ εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐμβάλλειν.

Πορφυρίου — συνέχεια

II.8.42.9

Ἔπειτα ὁ μὲν κλῆρος ἔξω * * πρὶν εἰς τὸν τῆς σελήνης ὑποκάτω τόπον πεσεῖν· τοῦ ⟨δὲ⟩ πρώτου βίου ἡ διέξοδος διὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ σφαιρῶν γιγνομένη, ἄλλως ἄλλης κατ’ αὐτὰ κινουμένης κατὰ τὰς προθυμίας πρός τινας τῶν δευτέρων βίων, οὐχ ὁμοίως προσέχειν πάσας ποιεῖ τοῖς γεγραμμένοις.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 8

p. 627

Porphyry continued

II.8.42.8

Why, then, at the same rising are, say, a dog, a man, a woman, and many men born, when neither the primary life nor the secondary is the same for them all?⁸⁷⁵ First, I would say that the passage is not so swift for all souls that the rising of the ascendant fails to get ahead of their entry. Since the motion is always getting ahead, and each difference according to the lot brings a different pattern of life, those who seem to enter the world in the ⟨same⟩ hour must never coincide in every respect.⁸⁷⁶

Porphyry continued

II.8.42.9

Next, the lot is outside [text missing], before entry into the region beneath the moon.⁸⁷⁷ ⟨But⟩ the course of the primary life through the seven spheres, as different souls move differently in these matters according to their inclinations toward certain secondary lives, means that they do not all attend in the same way to what is inscribed.⁸⁷⁸

875.Primary lives distinguish such kinds as human and canine existence; secondary lives further characterize a life within its primary kind. The question challenges an apparently common birth configuration with differences of both kinds. Wachsmuth regards the repeated many men, πολλοὶ ἄνδρες, as corrupt but leaves it in the text; it is retained here.

876.The proposed answer depends on differences of entry while the ascendant continues to rise, so apparent sameness of hour does not mean complete sameness of circumstances. I would say marks the answer as Porphyry’s proposal. Supplied ⟨αὐτῇ⟩ is shown as ⟨same⟩. No precise physical speed or unit of temporal difference is supplied.

877.The two asterisks after ἔξω, outside, mark a gap in Wachsmuth’s text, not necessarily two missing words. The English marks the same loss without inventing a verb or completing the account of the lot. The surviving contrast places the lot outside, before entry into the region below the moon.

878.The seven spheres belong to the celestial journey described in the argument. The primary life has been selected, but inclinations toward secondary lives differentiate how souls attend to the displayed patterns. Supplied ⟨δέ⟩ is ⟨But⟩. The awkward κατ’ αὐτά is kept and rendered broadly as in these matters, without adopting an editorial alteration of its wording.

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.