Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 12 · I.12.1b.3–I.12.2a.1

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 170 of 879

Book I Chapter 12 · I.12.1b.3–I.12.2a.1

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p. 336

1b ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 3

I.12.1b.3

Τὸ δὲ τί ἦν εἶναι προσηγόρευσε παρὰ τὸ τῶν ὄντων ἐπιφέρειν ἑκάστῳ τὴν τοῦ εἶναι δύναμιν· οὐσίαν δὲ τὴν κατὰ τὸν λόγον, ὅτι διαλλάττει τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὕλην, ὡς ἀνδριὰς χαλκοῦ καὶ Θηρίκλειον ἀργύρου καὶ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ὁτιοῦν λίθου· τὸ γὰρ ᾧ περιττεύει ταῦτα τῆς ὕλης, ἐξ ἧς δεδημιούργηται, τοῦτ’ ἐστὶν ἡ κατὰ τὸν λόγον οὐσία. Ἐνέργειαν δὲ ἐκάλεσεν, ὅτι τῶν ὄντων οὐθὲν ἂν ἐνεργεῖν ἠδύνατο μὴ πρότερον εἰδοποιηθέν.

2a ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 1

I.12.2a.1

⟨Πλάτωνος.⟩ Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἰδεῶν ὡδὶ διεξῄρχετο, τῶν κατὰ φύσιν αἰσθητῶν κατὰ μέρος ὡρισμένα τινὰ παραδείγματα φάμενος εἶναι τὰς ἰδέας, ἀφ’ ὧν τὰς ἐπιστήμας γίγνεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ὅρους· παρὰ πάντας γὰρ ἀνθρώπους ἄνθρωπόν τινα νοεῖσθαι καὶ παρὰ πάντας ἵππους ἵππον καὶ κοινῶς παρὰ τὰ ζῷα ζῷον ἀγένητον καὶ ἄφθαρτον· ὃν τρόπον δὲ σφραγῖδος μιᾶς ἐκμαγεῖα γίγνεσθαι πολλὰ καὶ συχνὰς εἰκόνας ἑνὸς ἀνδρός, οὕτω καὶ μιᾶς ἑκάστης ἰδέας αἰσθητῶν σωμάτων φύσεις παμπληθεῖς, τῆς μὲν ἀνθρώπων ἀνθρώπους ἅπαντας, ⟨τῆς δὲ ἵππων ἵππους ἅπαντας⟩, καὶ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ φύσιν.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 12

p. 337

1b ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Aristotle, part 3

I.12.1b.3

He called it “essence” because it confers on each existing thing the capacity to be; and “substance according to its account” because it differs from substance according to matter, as a statue differs from bronze, a Thericlean cup from silver, and any sculpted image from stone. For that by which these exceed the matter from which they have been fashioned is their substance according to its account.³⁸¹ He called it “activity” because none of the things that exist could act without first having been given form.³⁸²

2a ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Plato, part 1

I.12.2a.1

⟨Plato.⟩ He expounded the forms as follows, saying that they are certain determinate patterns corresponding to the several natural sensible things, from which knowledge and definitions arise. For besides all human beings a certain human being is conceived, and besides all horses a horse, and, generally, besides living creatures a living creature that is ungenerated and imperishable. Just as many impressions come from one seal and many likenesses from one man, so from each single form come countless natures of sensible bodies: all human beings from the form of human beings, ⟨and all horses from the form of horses⟩; the same account applies to the other things that exist by nature.³⁸³

381.To ti ēn einai, rendered “essence,” literally means “what it was to be.” “According to its account” distinguishes what the thing is as a formed object from its material: the cup, for example, from its silver. The cup’s particular name does not affect the comparison.

382.Energeia is rendered “activity” here to preserve its connection with energein, “to act,” and its distinction from entelecheia in the preceding explanation. The excerpt ends here in Wachsmuth; the manuscript repetition of the opening of excerpt 3, reported in his apparatus, is not printed a second time.

383.The singular human being, horse, and living creature are the intelligible patterns contrasted with their many sensible instances. Wachsmuth supplies the heading “Plato” and prints the supplemented horse example. This is an exposition attributed to Arius Didymus; a direct quotation from Plato follows in excerpt 2b.

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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