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Book I Chapter 11 · I.11.heading–I.11.2
Ancient Greek
p. 320Κεφάλαιον ΙΑʹ
Περὶ ὕλης.
1 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩
Ὕλη ἐστὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον πάσῃ γενέσει καὶ φθορᾷ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις μεταβολαῖς.
2 Ἑρμοῦ ἐκ τῶν πρὸς Τάτ
Καὶ γέγονεν, ὦ τέκνον, ἡ ὕλη καὶ ἦν, ὕλη γὰρ ἀγγεῖον γενέσεως ἐστί, γένεσις δὲ ἐνεργείας τρόπος τοῦ ἀγενήτου καὶ προόντος θεοῦ. Τὸ σπέρμα οὖν τῆς γενέσεως λαμβάνουσα γέγονε καὶ τρεπτὴ ἐγένετο καὶ ἰδέας ἔσχε μορφοποιουμένη· ἐφέστηκε γὰρ αὐτῇ τρεπομένῃ ἡ τεχνιτεύουσα τὰς τῆς τροπῆς ἰδέας. Ἀγενησία οὖν τῆς ὕλης ἀμορφία ἦν, ἡ δὲ γένεσις τὸ ἐνεργεῖσθαι.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 11
p. 321Chapter 11: Matter
On matter.
1 ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩
Matter is what underlies every coming-to-be and passing-away, and all other changes.361
2 Hermes, From the Discourses to Tat
Matter, my child, has both come to be and already existed: for matter is a vessel of coming-to-be, and coming-to-be is a mode of activity of the ungenerated god who exists beforehand. Receiving the seed of coming-to-be, therefore, matter came to be, became capable of change, and acquired forms as it was shaped. For she who fashions the forms of change presides over matter as it changes.362 Matter’s ungenerated condition, then, was its lack of form; its coming-to-be was its being acted upon.363
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 11 · I.11.heading–I.11.2
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.
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.