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 38 · I.38.3–I.38.6

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Book I Chapter 38 · I.38.3–I.38.6

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Ancient Greek

p. 752

3 · Πυθέας

I.38.3

Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης τῇ πληρώσει τῆς σελήνης καὶ τῇ μειώσει τὰς ἑκατέρου τούτων αἰτίας ἀνατίθησιν.

4 · Ποσειδώνιος

I.38.4

Ποσειδώνιος ὑπὸ μὲν τῆς σελήνης κινεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀνέμους, ὑπὸ δὲ τούτων τὰ πελάγη, ἐν οἷς τὰ προειρημένα γίνεσθαι πάθη.

5 · Πλάτων

I.38.5

Πλάτων ἐπὶ τὴν αἰώραν φέρεται τῶν ὑδάτων. εἶναι γάρ τινα φυσικὴν αἰώραν διά τινος ἐγγείου τρήματος περιφέρουσαν τὴν παλίρροιαν, ὑφ᾽ ἧς ἀντικυμαίνεσθαι τὰ πελάγη.

6 · Τίμαιος

I.38.6

Τίμαιος ὁ Ταυρομενίτης τοὺς ἐμβάλλοντας ποταμοὺς εἰς τὴν Ἀτλαντικὴν διὰ τῆς Κελτικῆς ὀρεινῆς αἰτιᾶται προωθοῦντας μὲν ταῖς ἐφόδοις, ὑφέλκοντας δὲ ταῖς ἀναπαύλαις.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 38

p. 753

3 · Pytheas

I.38.3

Pytheas of Massalia assigns the causes of these two effects to the moon’s becoming full and to its waning.⁹⁶⁷

4 · Posidonius

I.38.4

Posidonius says that the winds are moved by the moon, and the seas by the winds; in the seas the effects already mentioned then occur.⁹⁶⁸

5 · Plato

I.38.5

Plato favors the oscillation of the waters as the explanation. For there is a natural oscillation that carries the returning flow through an opening in the earth, causing the seas to surge in opposite directions.⁹⁶⁹

6 · Timaeus

I.38.6

Timaeus of Tauromenium assigns the cause to the rivers that flow through the mountainous Celtic country into the Atlantic: they push the sea forward with their onrushes and draw it back during their pauses.⁹⁷⁰

967.The two effects are flood and ebb. Plērōsis denotes filling or becoming full, and meiōsis diminution. This brief report links the opposite tidal movements to the lunar cycle without specifying the mechanism or a detailed timetable.

968.This report gives a chain of causes: moon, winds, sea, tides. The winds mediate the moon’s influence, whereas the preceding notice of Pytheas does not state an intervening cause.

969.Aiōra is a swinging or oscillating motion. Compare Phaedo 111d-112d, where waters move through connected underground passages and rise and fall through the great chasm called Tartarus. This is a compressed report, not the dialogue’s wording. “Plato” is a marginal attribution in manuscript P according to Wachsmuth’s apparatus.

970.The rivers are the grammatical subjects of both “push forward” and “draw back”; the sea is the understood object. The account attributes the alternating movement to variations in river inflow.

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.