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Book I Chapter 29 · I.29.1.8–I.29.1.10
Ancient Greek
p. 6681 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 8
Ἡράκλειτος βροντὴν μὲν κατὰ συστροφὰς ἀνέμων καὶ νεφῶν καὶ ἐμπτώσεις πνευμάτων εἰς τὰ νέφη, ἀστραπὰς δὲ κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἀναθυμιωμένων ἐξάψεις, πρηστῆρας δὲ κατὰ νεφῶν ἐμπρήσεις καὶ σβέσεις.
Λεύκιππος πυρὸς ἐναποληφθέντος νέφεσι παχυτάτοις ἔκπτωσιν ἰσχυρὰν βροντὴν ἀποτελεῖν ἀποφαίνεται.
1 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 9
Δημόκριτος βροντὴν μὲν ἐκ συγκρίματος ἀνωμάλου, τὸ περιειληφὸς αὐτὸ νέφος πρὸς τὴν κάτω φορὰν ἐκβιαζομένου· ἀστραπὴν δὲ σύγκρουσιν νεφῶν, ὑφ᾽ ἧς τὰ γεννητικὰ τοῦ πυρὸς διὰ τῶν πολυκένων ἀραιωμάτων ταῖς παρατρίψεσιν εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ συναλιζόμενα διηθεῖται·
1 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 10
κεραυνὸν δὲ ὅταν ἐκ καθαρωτέρων καὶ λεπτοτέρων, ὁμαλωτέρων τε καὶ πυκναρμόνων, καθάπερ αὐτὸς γράφει, γεννητικῶν τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ φορὰ βιάσηται· πρηστῆρα δ᾽, ὅταν πολυκενώτερα συγκρίματα πυρὸς ἐν πολυκένοις κατασχεθέντα χώραις καὶ περιοχαῖς ὑμένων ἰδίων σωματοποιούμενα τῷ πολυμιγεῖ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ βάρος ὁρμὴν λάβῃ.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 29
p. 6691 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Heraclitus and Leucippus
Heraclitus held that thunder arises from the whirling together of winds and clouds and currents of air entering the clouds; lightning from the ignition of exhaled matter; and fiery whirlwinds from clouds catching fire and being extinguished.
Leucippus declares that the violent escape of fire enclosed in very thick clouds produces thunder.
1 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Democritus on thunder and lightning
Democritus held that thunder arises from an irregular aggregate which forces the cloud enclosing it to move downward. Lightning is a collision of clouds, through which the constituents that generate fire, gathered together by friction, are filtered through rarefied spaces containing many voids.864
1 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Democritus on bolts and whirlwinds
A thunderbolt occurs when the movement of the constituents that generate fire forces its way through, these being purer and finer, more uniform and closely fitted together, as he himself writes. A fiery whirlwind occurs when aggregates of fire containing more voids are confined in regions full of voids and within their own enclosing membranes; taking bodily form through their varied mixture, they acquire an impulse in the direction of weight.865
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 29 · I.29.1.8–I.29.1.10
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.