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 58 · I.58.heading–I.58.1.2

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Book I Chapter 58 · I.58.heading–I.58.1.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 1686

Κεφάλαιον ΝΗʹ

I.58.heading

Περὶ φαντασίας καὶ κριτηρίου.

1.1

I.58.1.1

⟨Διδύμου.⟩

Ἀριστοτέλους. Φαντασίαν δ᾽ εἶναι πάθος τι καὶ κίνησιν τῆς κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν αἰσθήσεως. Ὠνομάσθαι δ᾽ ἀπὸ μιᾶς τῶν αἰσθήσεων τῆς ὁράσεως· τὸ ⟨γὰρ⟩ φαίνεσθαι παρὰ τὸ φάος ἔχειν τὴν ἐπίρρησιν.

1.2

I.58.1.2

τοῦτο δ᾽ οἰκεῖον εἶναι τῆς ὄψεως, διατείνειν δὲ ⟨εἰς⟩ πάσας τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ τὰς διανοητικὰς κινήσεις· καὶ γὰρ ταύτας ὁμωνύμως λέγεσθαι φαντασίας.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 58

p. 1687

Chapter 58 · Imagination and the criterion

I.58.heading

On imagination and the criterion.²⁰⁵³

1.1 · Imagination and light

I.58.1.1

⟨Didymus.⟩

Aristotle. Imagination is a certain affection and movement of perception in activity. It takes its name from one of the senses, sight; ⟨for⟩ appearing derives its designation from light.²⁰⁵⁴

1.2 · Extension beyond sight

I.58.1.2

This belongs properly to sight, but extends ⟨to⟩ all the senses and the movements of thought; for these too are called imaginations by the same name.²⁰⁵⁵

2053.Heeren restored this heading from Photius p. 112b35; it is absent from FP. Phantasia denotes the experience or capacity of having appearances or images, rather than only creative invention. The criterion is the means of judging or distinguishing the objects of knowledge.

2054.The supplied attribution identifies Didymus, Epitome of Physics, fragment 16, Diels p. 456. The editor supplies gar, for. The report connects phantasia, imagination or appearance, with phainesthai, to appear, and phaos, light. The English states the ancient explanation without presenting it as an independently established etymology.

2055.The source supplies eis, to. This looks back to the connection with appearing and light; the compressed wording does not fully distinguish the name’s origin from the capacity’s range. Homōnymōs indicates use of the same name for the further cases. The translation retains the extension to thought as well as to the other senses.

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.