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 15 · I.15.5.2–I.15.6a.1

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English Page · Branch 187 of 879

Book I Chapter 15 · I.15.5.2–I.15.6a.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 370

5 Ἐν ταὐτῷ · 2

I.15.5.2

Ὁ μὲν γὰρ μέσος ἐν αὐτῷ τόπος οὔτε κάτω πεφυκὼς οὔτε ἄνω λέγεσθαι δίκαιος, ἀλλ’ αὐτὸ ἐν μέσῳ· ὁ δὲ πέριξ οὔτε δὴ μέσος, οὔτε ἔχων διάφορον αὑτοῦ μέρος ἕτερον θατέρου μᾶλλον πρὸς τὸ μέσον ἤ τι τῶν καταντικρύ. τοῦ δὲ ὁμοίως πάντῃ πεφυκότος ποῖά τις ἐπιφέρων ὀνόματα αὐτῷ ἐναντία καὶ πῇ καλῶς ἂν ἡγοῖτο λέγειν;

5 Ἐν ταὐτῷ · 3

I.15.5.3

εἰ γάρ τι καὶ στερεὸν εἴη κατὰ μέσον τοῦ παντὸς ἰσοπαλές, εἰς οὐδὲν ἄν τί ποτε τῶν ἐσχάτων ἐνεχθείη διὰ τὴν πάντῃ ὁμοιότητα αὐτῶν· ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ περὶ ταὐτὸ πορεύοιτό τις ἐν κύκλῳ, πολλάκις ἂν στὰς ἀντίπους ταὐτὸν αὐτοῦ κάτω καὶ ἄνω προσείποι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὅλον, καθάπερ εἴρηται νῦν δή, σφαιροειδὲς ὂν τόπον τινὰ κάτω, τὸν δὲ ἄνω λέγειν ἔχειν οὐκ ἔμφρονος.

6a ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.15.6a.1

Οἱ ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου [τὸν κόσμον] σφαιρικὰ τὰ σχήματα τῶν τεττάρων στοιχείων· μόνον δὲ τὸ ἀνώτατον πῦρ κωνοειδές.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 15

p. 371

5 Plato, Timaeus 62d-63a, part 2

I.15.5.2

For its central region cannot properly be called naturally either down or up, but simply in the middle. The surrounding region is not the middle, and no part of it differs from another in its relation to the center or to any of the parts opposite. When something is alike in every direction, what contrary names could someone apply to it, and on what grounds could he consider himself to be speaking correctly?⁴³²

5 Plato, Timaeus 62d-63a, part 3

I.15.5.3

For even if a solid body were evenly balanced at the center of the whole, it would never move toward any of the extremities, because they are alike in every direction. Yet if someone were to travel in a circle around that same body, repeatedly taking a position with his feet pointing the opposite way, he would call the same part of it both down and up. For since the whole is spherical, as was just said, no sensible person would say that it has one region below and another above.⁴³³

6a ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: The Pythagoreans

I.15.6a.1

The followers of Pythagoras held [the world] the shapes of the four elements to be spherical; only the uppermost fire is conical.⁴³⁴

432.The contrast is between the center and the surrounding boundary. “Up” and “down” would assign contrary directional properties to regions that are alike in relation to the center. The discussion continues the chapter’s concern with symmetry rather than denying differences of position relative to a particular observer.

433.Antipous describes standing with the feet oppositely directed. As the observer changes position around the central body, the same region receives opposite local designations. “Evenly balanced” translates isopales, also used in the Parmenidean verses at the end of chapter 14.

434.“The world” is bracketed for deletion in the base text and has no grammatical role in the resulting sentence. The contrast distinguishes the shapes of the four elements from the form assigned to the uppermost fire. “Conical” means shaped like a cone.

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.