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Book I Chapter 5 · I.5.22b
Ancient Greek
p. 19022 Ἐκ τῆς Ἀριστοτέλους πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον ἐπιστολῆς (βʹ)
Τά τε περὶ τὰς μοίρας καὶ τὸν ἄτρακτον εἰς ταὐτά πως νεύει· τρεῖς μὲν αἱ μοῖραι κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους μεμερισμέναι· νῆμα δὲ ἀτράκτου τὸ μὲν ἐξειργασμένον ἤδη, τὸ δὲ μέλλον, τὸ δὲ περιστρεφόμενον. τέτακται δὲ κατὰ μὲν τὸ γεγονὸς μία τῶν μοιρῶν, Ἄτροπος, ἐπεὶ τὰ παρελθόντα πάντα ἄτρεπτά ἐστι· κατὰ δὲ τὸ μέλλον Λάχεσις, εἰς πάντα γὰρ ἡ κατὰ φύσιν μένει λῆξις· κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἐνεστὼς Κλωθώ, συμπεραίνουσα καὶ κλώθουσα ἑκάστῳ τὰ οἰκεῖα, ὅπερ αἰνίττεται καὶ ὁ μῦθος. Πάντα δὲ ταῦτά ἐστιν οὐκ ἄλλο τι πλὴν ὁ θεός, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ γενναῖος Πλάτων· “Ὁ μὲν δὴ θεός, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ παλαιὸς λόγος, ἀρχήν τε καὶ τελευτὴν καὶ μέσα τῶν ὄντων ἔχων, εὐθείᾳ περαίνει, κατὰ φύσιν περιπορευόμενος.”
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 5
p. 19122 From Aristotle’s letter to Alexander (2)
The account of the Fates and the spindle also points in some way to these same things. The three Fates are allotted to the divisions of time. Of the spindle’s thread, some is already finished, some is still to come, and some is being turned. One of the Fates, Atropos, is assigned to what has happened, because everything past is unalterable. Lachesis is assigned to the future, because the natural allotment awaits all things. Clotho is assigned to the present, completing and spinning for each what belongs to it. This is what the myth too hints at.208
All these are nothing other than God, as the noble Plato also says: “God, as the ancient saying has it, holding the beginning, the end, and the middle of existing things, accomplishes his course straight, moving around according to nature.”209
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 5 · I.5.22b
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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.
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