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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

Stobaeus, Volume I

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 8 · I.8.44–I.8.45.1

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 131 of 879

Book I Chapter 8 · I.8.44–I.8.45.1

Ancient Greek

p. 258

44 Πλουτάρχου, Νουμᾶ καὶ Λυκούργου

I.8.44

Πολλοί εἰσιν, οἳ προστεθῆναι τὸν Ἰανουάριον καὶ Φεβρουάριον ὑπὸ Νουμᾶ τοὺς μῆνας λέγουσιν, ἐξ ἀρχῆς δὲ χρῆσθαι Ῥωμαίους δέκα μόνοις εἰς τὸν ἐνιαυτόν, ὡς ἔνιοι τῶν βαρβάρων τρισὶ καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ἀρκάδες μὲν τέτρασιν, ἓξ δὲ Ἀκαρνᾶνες· Αἰγυπτίοις δὲ μηνιαῖος ἦν ὁ ἐνιαυτός, εἶτα τετράμηνος, ὥς φασί· δι’ ὃ καὶ οἱ ταύτην τὴν χώραν οἰκοῦντες ἀρχαιότατοι δοκοῦσιν εἶναι καὶ πλῆθος ἀμήχανον ἐτῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς γενεαλογίαις καταφέρουσιν, ἅτε δὴ τοὺς μῆνας εἰς ἐτῶν ἀριθμὸν τιθέμενοι.

45 Πλάτωνος, Τιμαίου ⟨καὶ Ἀετίου⟩

I.8.45.1

Πλάτων αἰῶνος εἰκόνα κινητήν, ἢ διάστημα τῆς τοῦ κόσμου κινήσεως· γενητὸν δὲ κατ’ ἐπίνοιαν· οὐσίαν δὲ χρόνου τὴν οὐρανοῦ κίνησιν· λέγει γὰρ ἐν τῷ Τιμαίῳ οὕτως·

258

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 8

p. 259

44 Plutarch, Lives of Numa and Lycurgus

I.8.44

Many say that Numa added the months January and February, and that originally the Romans used only ten months for the year, just as some non-Greek peoples use three, and among the Greeks the Arcadians use four and the Acarnanians six. The Egyptians, they say, had a year of one month and then of four months. This is why the inhabitants of that country seem to be the most ancient and bring down an extraordinary number of years in their genealogies: they count months as years.293

45 Plato, Timaeus, ⟨with Aëtius⟩

I.8.45.1

Plato calls time a moving image of eternity, or the interval of the universe’s motion. It is generated in conception; its nature is the motion of heaven. For he says in the Timaeus as follows:294

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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.