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Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.5.6–I.21.6a
Ancient Greek
p. 5045 ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 6
Τῶν δὲ πλανωμένων ὑψηλοτάτην εἶναι μετὰ τὴν ⟨τῶν⟩ ἀπλανῶν τὴν τοῦ Κρόνου, μετὰ δὲ ταύτην τὴν τοῦ Διός, εἶτα τὴν τοῦ Ἄρεος, ἑξῆς δὲ τὴν τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ καὶ μετ᾽ αὐτὴν τὴν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης, εἶτα τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου, ἐπὶ πάσι δὲ τὴν τῆς σελήνης, πλησιάζουσαν τῷ ἀέρι. Διὸ καὶ ἀερωδεστέραν φαίνεσθαι καὶ μάλιστα διατείνειν τὴν ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς δύναμιν εἰς τὰ περίγεια.
5 ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 7
Ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν σελήνην τὴν τοῦ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ φερομένου ἀέρος, εἶτα τὴν ⟨τοῦ⟩ ὕδατος, τελευταίαν δὲ τὴν τῆς γῆς, περὶ τὸ μέσον σημεῖον τοῦ κόσμου κειμένης, ὃ δὴ τοῦ παντός ἐστι κάτω, ἄνω δὲ τὸ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ κύκλῳ πάντῃ.
6a ⟨Ἀετίου⟩
Ἔκφαντος ἐκ μὲν τῶν ἀτόμων συνεστάναι τὸν κόσμον, διοικεῖσθαι δὲ ὑπὸ προνοίας.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 21
p. 5055 ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: The planets in order
Of the wandering stars, the highest sphere, following that ⟨of⟩ the fixed stars, is Saturn’s; after it comes Jupiter’s, then Mars’s, next Mercury’s, then Venus’s, then the sun’s, and last of all the moon’s, adjoining the air. Hence the moon also appears more airlike, and its power reaches the regions about earth most strongly.633
5 ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: The center and “down”
Below the moon lies the sphere of the air carried beneath it, then that of water, and last that of earth, which lies about the central point of the world. This is the “down” of the universe; “up” is the direction from it toward the circumference on every side.634
6a ⟨Aëtius⟩: Ecphantus
Ecphantus held that the world is constituted from atoms, but is governed by providence.635
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.5.6–I.21.6a
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.