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 13 · I.13.2.2–I.13.2.3

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English Page · Branch 177 of 879

Book I Chapter 13 · I.13.2.2–I.13.2.3

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Ancient Greek

p. 350

2 Ὀκέλλου · 2

I.13.2.2

Τίς ὦν αἰτία ἦν φύσις, τὸν μὲν κόσμον ἁρμόχθαι διὰ παντὸς καὶ μηδέποκ’ ἐς ἀκοσμίαν ἐκβαίνειν, τὰς δὲ πόλιας καὶ τὼς οἴκως ὀλιγοχρονίως ἦμεν; Ὅσα μὲν ὦν γεννατὰ καὶ θνατὰ τὰν φύσιν, ἐξ ἇς συνέστακεν ὕλας, τὰν αὐτὰν αἰτίαν ἔχει τᾶς διαλύσιος· συνέστακε γὰρ ἐκ μεταβαλλοίσας καὶ ἀειπαθέος. Ἁ γὰρ τῶν γεννωμένων ἀπογέννασις σωτηρία τᾶς γενετείρας ὕλας.

2 Ὀκέλλου · 3

I.13.2.3

Τὸ δὲ ἀεικίνητον κυβερνῇ, τὸ δ’ ἀειπαθὲς κυβερνῆται· καὶ τὸ μὲν πρότερον τᾷ δυνάμι, τὸ δὲ ὕστερον· καὶ τὸ μὲν θεῖον καὶ λόγον ἔχον καὶ ἔμφρον, τὸ δὲ γεννατὸν καὶ ἄλογον [τὸ μεταβάλλον].

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 13

p. 351

2 Ocellus, On Law, part 2

I.13.2.2

What nature, then, was responsible for the world’s being in harmony always and never falling into disorder, while cities and households endure only a short time?³⁹⁹ Whatever things are generated and mortal by nature have, in the very matter from which they are constituted, the cause of their dissolution; for they are constituted from what changes and is always subject to being affected. The passing-away of generated things preserves the matter that gives them birth.⁴⁰⁰

2 Ocellus, On Law, part 3

I.13.2.3

What is always in motion governs, while what is always subject to being affected is governed. The former is prior in power, the latter posterior; the former is divine, possesses reason, and is intelligent, while the latter is generated and irrational [that which changes].⁴⁰¹

399.The question follows Wachsmuth’s text, which adopts Usener’s ēn, “was,” in place of the manuscripts’ kai, “and.” Nature is thus construed as the subject and “responsible” as the predicate. The contrast is between the enduring order of the world and the short lives of its mortal constituents.

400.Apogennasis is difficult here. “Passing-away” takes it as the undoing of generation, in the context of dissolution and the continued existence of matter. The same contextual interpretation is used by P. S. Horky, “Italic Pythagoreanism in the Hellenistic Age,” in The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy (2023), pp. 12-13. The facing Greek retains Wachsmuth’s word.

401.The passage contrasts what governs with what receives its action. Its phrase aeikinēton means “always in motion,” not “unmoved”; the distinction from the unmoved first cause reported in excerpt 1d remains. The final words, “that which changes,” are bracketed by Wachsmuth as an explanatory gloss rather than part of the continuous sentence.

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.