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 52 · I.52.7–I.52.9.1

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English Page · Branch 817 of 879

Book I Chapter 52 · I.52.7–I.52.9.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 1630

7

I.52.7

Πλάτων συναύγειαν τοῦ μὲν ἐκ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν φωτὸς ἐπὶ ποσὸν ἀπορρέοντος εἰς τὸν ὁμογενῆ ἀέρα, τοῦ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων ἀντιφερομένου, τοῦ δὲ περὶ τὸν μεταξὺ ἀέρα, εὐδιάχυτον ὄντα καὶ εὔτρεπτον, συντεινομένου τῷ πυρώδει τῆς ὄψεως. αὕτη λέγεται Πλάτωνι ἡ συναύγεια.

8

I.52.8

Ἀλκμαίων κατὰ τὴν τοῦ διαφανοῦς ἀντίληψιν.

9.1

I.52.9.1

⟨Διδύμου.⟩

Ἀριστοτέλους. Ὁρᾶν ἡμᾶς κατὰ κίνησιν τοῦ κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν διαφανοῦς· διαφανὲς δὲ οὐ μόνον εἶναι τὸν ἀέρα ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καί τινα τῶν συνισταμένων ποθέν, οἷον ὕαλον καὶ κρύσταλλον καί τινας τῶν λαμπρῶν λίθων.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 52

p. 1631

7 · A conjunction of light

I.52.7

Plato explains sight by a conjunction of light: light flows some distance from the eyes into air of like nature; light from bodies travels to meet it; and light in the intervening air, which readily spreads and changes, is drawn into tension with the fiery element of vision. This is what Plato calls the conjunction of light.¹⁹⁸¹

8 · The transparent

I.52.8

Alcmaeon explains sight through apprehension of the transparent.¹⁹⁸²

9.1 · The transparent medium

I.52.9.1

⟨Didymus.⟩

Aristotle. We see through a movement of what is actually transparent. The transparent is not only air but also water and certain things formed by combination from some source, such as glass, crystal, and some bright stones.¹⁹⁸³

1981.Synaugeia is a shining together or conjunction of radiance. The threefold account involves eye, object, and intervening air. The English provisionally takes the adjectives readily spreading and changeable with the air, as the printed construction suggests. The closing sentence is retained. Compare the longer Timaeus extract in excerpt 19.

1982.The brief report prints antilēpsis, apprehension. The apparatus records the proposal antilampsis, an answering flash or reflection, but that reading is not adopted. The precise role of the transparent remains unspecified in the surviving phrase.

1983.The Latin editorial attribution identifies Didymus, Epitome of Physics, fragment 17, Diels p. 456; the Greek heading names Aristotle. Actually transparent renders kat’ energeian, distinguishing active transparency from mere capacity. The awkward pothen, from some source, is retained rather than replaced with an unprinted classification of solids.

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.