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Book I Chapter 10 · I.10.12.11–I.10.13
Ancient Greek
p. 30412 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 11
Εἶναι δὲ τὴν φύσιν ⟨τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ⟩ δεκάδα· μέχρι γὰρ τῶν δέκα πάντες ἀριθμοῦσιν, ἐφ’ ἃ ἐλθόντες πάλιν ἀναποδίζουσιν ἐπὶ τὴν μονάδα. Καὶ τῶν δέκα πάλιν, φησίν, ἡ δύναμίς ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς τέτταρσιν· ἐκ γὰρ τῆς τετράδος καὶ τῶν αὐτῆς μερῶν ἀναπληροῦται· ἐὰν δὲ ὑπερβάλῃ ⟨τις⟩ τὸν τῆς τετράδος, καὶ τῶν δέκα ὑπερεκπεσεῖται. Διὸ καὶ ἐπεφθέγγοντο οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι, ὡς μεγίστου ⟨ὅρκου⟩ ὄντος τῆς τετράδος,
Οὐ μὰ τὸν ἁμετέρᾳ κεφαλᾷ παραδόντα τετρακτύν, παγὰν ἀενάου φύσιος ῥίζωμά τ’ ἔχουσαν.13 Θεανοῦς ἐκ τοῦ Περὶ εὐσεβείας
Καὶ συχνοὺς μὲν Ἑλλήνων πέπυσμαι νομίσαι φάναι Πυθαγόραν ἐξ ἀριθμοῦ πάντα φύεσθαι. Οὗτος δὲ ὁ λόγος ἀπορησίας ἔχεται, πῶς ἃ μηδὲ ἔστιν ἐπινοεῖται καὶ γεννᾶν. ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἐξ ἀριθμοῦ, κατὰ δὲ ἀριθμὸν ἔλεγε πάντα γίγνεσθαι, ὅτι ἐν ἀριθμῷ τάξις πρώτη, ἧς μετουσίᾳ κἀν τοῖς ἀριθμητοῖς πρῶτόν τι καὶ δεύτερον καὶ τἆλλα ἑπομένως τέτακται.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 10
p. 30512 ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: Pythagoras: the tetractys
The nature ⟨of number⟩ is the decad: everyone counts up to ten and, having reached it, returns again to the unit. The power of ten, he says, is in four, since ten is completed from four and its parts; if ⟨someone⟩ goes beyond the number four, he will also overshoot ten. Hence the Pythagoreans would declare, treating the tetrad as the greatest ⟨oath⟩:342
No, by him who handed down to our mind the tetractys, which holds the source and root of ever-flowing nature!343
13 Theano, On Piety
I have learned that many Greeks have supposed Pythagoras to have said that everything grows out of number. But this assertion involves a difficulty: how can things that do not even exist be conceived as generating things as well? He said that everything comes to be not out of number but according to number, because order is first present in number; by participation in that order, things that are counted are likewise arranged as first, second, and the rest in succession.344
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 10 · I.10.12.11–I.10.13
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.
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