Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

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 31 · I.31.heading–I.31.3

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Book I Chapter 31 · I.31.heading–I.31.3

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p. 708

Κεφάλαιον ΛΑʹ

I.31.heading

Περὶ νεφῶν ὁμίχλης ὑετῶν δρόσου χιόνος πάχνης χαλάζης.

1 Ἀναξιμένης

I.31.1

Ἀναξιμένης νέφη μὲν γίνεσθαι παχυνθέντος ἐπὶ πλεῖον τοῦ ἀέρος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπισυναχθέντος ἐκθλίβεσθαι τοὺς ὄμβρους· χιόνα δέ, ἐπειδὰν τὸ καταφερόμενον ὕδωρ παγῇ· χάλαζαν δ᾽ ὅταν συμπεριληφθῇ τι τῷ ὑγρῷ πνευματικόν.

2 Ἀναξαγόρας

I.31.2

Ἀναξαγόρας νέφη μὲν καὶ χιόνα παραπλησίως, χάλαζαν δ᾽ ὅταν ἀπὸ τῶν παγέντων νεφῶν προωσθῇ τινα πρὸς τὴν γῆν, ἃ δὴ ταῖς καταφοραῖς ἀποψυχρόμενα στρογγυλοῦται.

3 Μητρόδωρος

I.31.3

Μητρόδωρος ἀπὸ τῆς ὑδατώδους ἀναφορᾶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος συνίστασθαι τὰ νέφη.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 31

p. 709

Chapter 31: Clouds and precipitation

I.31.heading

On clouds, mist, rain, dew, snow, frost, and hail.⁹⁰⁷

1 Anaximenes

I.31.1

Anaximenes says that clouds form when the air thickens further; when it is drawn still more closely together, showers are squeezed out. Snow forms when the falling water freezes, and hail when something airy is enclosed together with the moisture.⁹⁰⁸

2 Anaxagoras

I.31.2

Anaxagoras gives a similar account of clouds and snow. Hail forms when portions of frozen clouds are thrust toward the earth; as these cool during their descent, they become rounded.⁹⁰⁹

3 Metrodorus

I.31.3

Metrodorus says that clouds are formed by the air from the upward movement of watery matter.⁹¹⁰

907.Pachnē is frost, often rendered “hoarfrost.” The chapter preserves differing accounts of its relation to dew and snow; these distinctions are retained in the separate reports. Wachsmuth identifies the source of the first five numbered excerpts as Aëtius, III.4.

908.The printed text assigns freezing falling water to snow and the enclosure of airy matter to hail. Wachsmuth notes that “snow” and “hail” appear to have exchanged places, comparing Hippolytus, Refutation I.7.7, and the report below. The translation preserves his printed order.

909.“A similar account” is the report’s brief reference to what precedes; it supplies no further account of clouds or snow here. The formation and rounding of hail are stated separately.

910.The air is the agent in the printed reading hypo tou aeros, “by the air.” Diels’s correction hypo replaces the manuscript’s epi. Anaphora describes the rising or carrying upward of the watery material.

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.