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Book I Chapter 10 · I.10.16c.1–I.10.16c.2
Ancient Greek
p. 31416c ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 1
Χρυσίππου. Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας στοιχείων τοιαῦτά τινα ἀποφαίνεται, τῷ τῆς αἱρέσεως ἡγεμόνι Ζήνωνι κατακολουθῶν, τέτταρα λέγων εἶναι στοιχεῖα ⟨πῦρ, ἀέρα, ὕδωρ, γῆν, ἐξ ὧν συνίστασθαι πάντα καὶ ζῷα⟩ καὶ φυτὰ καὶ τὸν ὅλον κόσμον καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ περιεχόμενα καὶ εἰς ταῦτα διαλύεσθαι. τὸ δὲ ⟨πῦρ καὶ⟩ κατ’ ἐξοχὴν στοιχεῖον λέγεσθαι διὰ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ πρώτου τὰ λοιπὰ συνίστασθαι κατὰ μεταβολὴν καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ ἔσχατον πάντα χεόμενα διαλύεσθαι, τοῦτο δὲ μὴ ἐπιδέχεσθαι τὴν εἰς ἄλλο χύσιν ἢ ἀνάλυσιν·
16c ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 2
[συνίστασθαι δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὰ λοιπὰ καὶ χεόμενα εἰς τοῦτο ἔσχατον τελευτᾶν· παρὸ καὶ στοιχεῖον λέγεσθαι, ὃ πρῶτον ἕστηκεν οὕτως, ὥστε σύστασιν διδόναι ἀφ’ αὑτοῦ καὶ αὐτὸ τῶν λοιπῶν χύσιν καὶ διάλυσιν δέχεσθαι εἰς αὑτό]· κατὰ μὲν τὸν λόγον τοῦτον αὐτοτελῶς λεγομένου τοῦ πυρὸς στοιχείου· οὐ μετ’ ἄλλου γάρ· κατὰ δὲ τὸν πρότερον καὶ μετ’ ἄλλων συστατικὸν εἶναι, πρώτης μὲν γιγνομένης τῆς ἐκ πυρὸς κατὰ σύστασιν εἰς ἀέρα μεταβολῆς, δευτέρας δ’ ἀπὸ τούτου εἰς ὕδωρ, τρίτης δ’ ἔτι μᾶλλον κατὰ τὸ ἀνάλογον συνισταμένου τοῦ ὕδατος εἰς γῆν. πάλιν δ’ ἀπὸ ταύτης διαλυομένης καὶ διαχεομένης πρώτη μὲν γίγνεται χύσις εἰς ὕδωρ, δευτέρα δ’ ἐξ ὕδατος εἰς ἀέρα, τρίτη δὲ καὶ ἐσχάτη εἰς πῦρ.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 10
p. 31516c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Chrysippus, part 1
Chrysippus. Concerning the elements derived from substance, he makes assertions of the following kind. Following Zeno, the leader of the school, he says that there are four elements, ⟨fire, air, water, and earth, from which everything is constituted, both animals⟩ and plants, the whole world and all that it contains, and into which they are dissolved. ⟨Fire is also⟩ called the element in the preeminent sense, because the rest are first constituted from it by transformation, and everything is finally dissolved into it by diffusion, while it does not admit of diffusion or dissolution into anything else.355
16c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Chrysippus, part 2
[The rest are constituted from it and, as they diffuse, finally end in it. Hence an element is also said to be that which first stands in such a condition as to give rise to a constitution from itself and itself receive the diffusion and dissolution of the rest into itself.]356 On this account fire is called an element independently, since it is not so called together with another; on the former account it is constitutive together with others. First comes the transformation from fire into air by condensation; second, from air into water; third, as water condenses still further in due proportion, into earth. Again, as earth dissolves and diffuses, the first diffusion is into water, the second from water into air, and the third and last into fire.357
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 10 · I.10.16c.1–I.10.16c.2
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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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