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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 126 of 879
Book I Chapter 8 · I.8.41.1–I.8.41.2
Ancient Greek
p. 24841 Ἑρμοῦ ἐκ τῶν πρὸς Τάτ
…
Ὡς καὶ περὶ τῶν τριῶν χρόνων εὑρεῖν· οὔτε γὰρ καθ’ ἑαυτούς εἰσιν, οὔτε συνήνωνται· καὶ πάλιν συνήνωνται καὶ καθ’ ἑαυτούς εἰσιν. Ἐὰν χωρὶς εἶναι τοῦ παρεληλυθότος ὑπολάβῃς τὸν ἐνεστῶτα, ἀδύνατον ἐστὶν ἐνεστάναι, εἰ μὴ καὶ παρεληλυθὼς γένοιτο· ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ ἀποεχομένου τὸ ἐνεστὼς γίνεται καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος τὸ μέλλον ἔρχεται.
41 Συνέχεια
Εἰ δὲ δεῖ καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον βασανίσαι, οὕτω λογισώμεθα· τὸν μὲν παρεληλυθότα χρόνον οἴχεσθαι εἰς τὸ μηκέτι εἶναι [τοῦτον], τὸν δὲ μέλλοντα μὴ ὑπάρχειν ἐν τῷ μηδέπω παρεῖναι, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα συμπαρεῖναι ἐν τῷ μένειν. Ὃς γὰρ οὐχ ἕστηκε ῥοπὴν ἔχων, οὐδὲ κέντρου μονὴν [χρόνος], πῶς ἐνεστὼς εἶναι λέγεται ὁ μηδὲ ἑστάναι δυνάμενος; καὶ πάλιν ὁ παρεληλυθὼς συνάπτων τῷ ἐνεστῶτι καὶ ὁ ἐνεστὼς τῷ μέλλοντι εἷς γίνεται (οὐ γὰρ χωρὶς αὑτῶν εἰσι) τῇ ταυτότητι καὶ τῇ ἑνότητι καὶ τῇ συνεχείᾳ. Οὕτω καὶ συνεχὴς καὶ διεστὼς γίνεται, εἷς ὢν καὶ ὁ αὐτός, χρόνος.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 8
p. 24941 Hermes, from the writings to Tat
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As one may also find concerning the three times: they neither exist separately nor are united; and again they are united and exist separately. If you suppose that the present is separate from the past, it cannot be present unless it has also become past; for the present comes from what is withdrawing, and the future comes from the present.281
41 Continued
If we must examine it further, let us reason as follows. Past time has departed into no longer being [this time]; future time does not exist because it is not yet present; but present time too does not remain with us by staying still. For [time] does not stand still even for a moment, nor has it the stability of a point. How, then, can what cannot even stand still be said to be present?282 Yet again the past, joining the present, and the present, joining the future, become one through identity, unity, and continuity, since they are not separate from one another. Thus time, being one and the same, is both continuous and divided.
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 8 · I.8.41.1–I.8.41.2
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.
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