Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Book I Chapter 11 · I.11.5c–I.11.6
Ancient Greek
p. 3305c ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩
Ποσειδωνίου. Ἔφησε δὲ ὁ Ποσειδώνιος τὴν τῶν ὅλων οὐσίαν καὶ ὕλην ἄποιον καὶ ἄμορφον εἶναι, καθ’ ὅσον οὐδὲν ἀποτεταγμένον ἴδιον ἔχει σχῆμα οὐδὲ ποιότητα καθ’ αὑτήν, ἀεὶ δ’ ἔν τινι σχήματι καὶ ποιότητι εἶναι. Διαφέρειν δὲ τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς ὕλης, τὴν ⟨αὐτὴν⟩ οὖσαν κατὰ τὴν ὑπόστασιν, ἐπινοίᾳ μόνον.
6 Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Παρμενίδου
Ἐπὶ πάντα ἄρα πολλὰ ὄντα ἡ οὐσία νενέμηται καὶ οὐδενὸς ἀποστατεῖ τῶν ὄντων, οὔτε τοῦ σμικροτάτου οὔτε τοῦ μεγίστου; ἢ τοῦτο μὲν καὶ ἄλογον ἐρέσθαι; πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἡ οὐσία γε τῶν ὄντων του ἀποστατοίη;
- Οὐδαμῶς.
- Κατακεκερμάτισται ἄρα ὡς οἷόν τε σμικρότατα καὶ μέγιστα καὶ πανταχῶς ὄντα καὶ μεμέρισται πάντων μάλιστα, καὶ ἐστὶ μέρη ἀπέραντα τῆς οὐσίας.
- Ἔχει οὕτως.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 11
p. 3315c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Posidonius
Posidonius. Posidonius said that the substance and matter of the universe is without quality and without form, insofar as it has no determinate shape or quality of its own in itself; yet it is always in some shape and quality. Substance differs from matter in conception alone, being ⟨the same⟩ in underlying reality.373
6 Plato, Parmenides (144b-c)
“Being, then, has been distributed over all the many things that are, and is absent from none of them, neither the smallest nor the greatest? Or is it unreasonable even to ask this? For how could being be absent from anything that is?”
“In no way.”
“It has therefore been broken up into things as small and as great as possible, and of every sort, and has been divided more than anything else; the parts of being are unlimited.”
“That is so.”374
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 11 · I.11.5c–I.11.6
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.
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.