Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Book I Chapter 10 · I.10.12.2–I.10.12.4
Ancient Greek
p. 29812 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2
Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ Πραξιάδου Μιλήσιος φησι τῶν ὄντων ⟨τὴν⟩ ἀρχὴν εἶναι τὸ ἄπειρον· ἐκ γὰρ τούτου πάντα γίγνεσθαι καὶ εἰς τοῦτο πάντα φθείρεσθαι. Διὸ καὶ γεννᾶσθαι ἀπείρους κόσμους καὶ πάλιν φθείρεσθαι εἰς τὸ ἐξ οὗ γίγνονται. Λέγει γοῦν διότι ἀπέραντόν ἐστιν, ἵνα μηδὲν ἐλλείπῃ ⟨ἡ⟩ γένεσις ἡ ὑφισταμένη. Ἁμαρτάνει δὲ μὴ λέγων τί ἐστι τὸ ἄπειρον. Τὸ δ’ ἄπειρον οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ ὕλη ἐστίν· οὐ δύναται δ’ ἡ ὕλη εἶναι ἐνέργεια, ἐὰν μὴ τὸ ποιοῦν ὑποκέηται.
12 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 3
Ξενοκράτης συνεστάναι τὸ πᾶν ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ τοῦ ἀενάου, ἀέναον τὴν ὕλην αἰνιττόμενος διὰ τοῦ πλήθους.
12 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 4
Ξενοφάνης ἀρχὴν τῶν πάντων εἶναι τὴν γῆν· γράφει γὰρ ἐν τῷ Περὶ φύσεως·
Ἐκ γαίης γὰρ πάντα καὶ εἰς γῆν πάντα τελευτᾷ.Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 10
p. 29912 ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: Anaximander
Anaximander of Miletus, son of Praxiades, says that ⟨the⟩ principle of existing things is the unlimited: everything comes to be from it and perishes into it. Hence unlimited worlds are generated and perish again into that from which they arise. He says, then, that it is boundless so that ⟨the⟩ process of coming-to-be that takes place may never fail. But he errs in not saying what the unlimited is. The unlimited is nothing other than matter; yet matter cannot be activity unless an agent is presupposed.335
12 ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: Xenocrates
Xenocrates holds that the universe is constituted from the One and the ever-flowing, using “ever-flowing” to allude to matter through its multiplicity.336
12 ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: Xenophanes
Xenophanes holds that earth is the principle of everything; for he writes in On Nature:
For all things come from earth, and all things end in earth.
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 10 · I.10.12.2–I.10.12.4
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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.
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.