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 25 · I.25.3i.2–I.25.3k.2

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 298 of 879

Book I Chapter 25 · I.25.3i.2–I.25.3k.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 592

3i ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2

I.25.3i.2

Συγκαταφέρεσθαι δὲ τὸν ἥλιον κινούμενον ἕλικα ἐν τῇ σφαίρᾳ, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰσημερινοῦ ἐπί τε ἄρκτου καὶ νότου, ἅπερ ἐστὶ πέρατα τῆς ἕλικος· ἄλλοι δὲ ἐπ᾽ εὐθείας αὐτὸν κινεῖσθαι τὴν ἕλικα οὐ περὶ σφαῖραν ποιοῦντα, περὶ δὲ κύλινδρον.

3k ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.25.3k.1

Ἀρίσταρχος τὸν ἥλιον ἵστησι μετὰ τῶν ἀπλανῶν, τὴν δὲ γῆν κινεῖσθαι περὶ τὸν ἡλιακὸν κύκλον καὶ κατὰ τὰς ταύτης ἐγκλίσεις σκιάζεσθαι.

3k ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2

I.25.3k.2

Ξενοφάνης πολλοὺς εἶναι ἡλίους καὶ σελήνας κατὰ τὰ κλίματα τῆς γῆς καὶ ἀποτομὰς καὶ ζώνας. Κατὰ δέ τινα καιρὸν ἐκπίπτειν τὸν δίσκον εἴς τινα ἀποτομὴν τῆς γῆς οὐκ οἰκουμένην ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν καὶ οὕτως ὡσπερεὶ κενεμβατοῦντα ἔκλειψιν ὑποφαίνειν· ὁ δ᾽ αὐτὸς τὸν ἥλιον εἰς ἄπειρον μὲν προϊέναι, δοκεῖν δὲ κυκλεῖσθαι διὰ τὴν ἀπόστασιν.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 25

p. 593

3i ⟨Aëtius⟩: A spiral course

I.25.3i.2

The sun is carried along while moving in a spiral within the sphere, from the equator toward both north and south, which are the limits of the spiral. Others say that it advances in a straight direction, tracing its spiral around a cylinder rather than a sphere.⁷⁶¹

3k ⟨Aëtius⟩: Aristarchus

I.25.3k.1

Aristarchus makes the sun stationary along with the fixed stars, while the earth moves around the solar circle and is put in shadow according to its inclinations.⁷⁶²

3k ⟨Aëtius⟩: Xenophanes’ many suns

I.25.3k.2

Xenophanes held that there are many suns and moons corresponding to the earth’s regions, divisions, and zones. At a certain time the disk falls into some division of the earth uninhabited by us, and thus, as though stepping into emptiness, presents the appearance of an eclipse. He also held that the sun proceeds onward without limit, but appears to move in a circle because of its distance.⁷⁶³

761.The spiral combines revolution with a changing north-south position. In the second description, straight advance is understood along the cylinder while the revolving path winds around it. This makes the compressed contrast readable without identifying the unnamed “others.”

762.The text names the earth as the moving body, and “its” refers to the earth. The shadow clause is obscure in this eclipse context; it is retained without replacing earth with moon or reconstructing a complete theory. “Along with” expresses shared immobility, not necessarily a shared distance. The lettering passes from 3i to 3k.

763.Klimata denotes geographical regions or belts, rather than climate in the modern sense of weather averages. The comparison “as though stepping into emptiness” preserves the image without making it an explicit assertion of an atomistic void.

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.