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 54 · I.54.heading–I.54.2

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Book I Chapter 54 · I.54.heading–I.54.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 1662

Κεφάλαιον ΝΔʹ

I.54.heading

Περὶ ὀσφρήσεως.

1

I.54.1

⟨Ἀετίου.⟩

Ἀλκμαίων ἐν τῷ ἐγκεφάλῳ εἶναι τὸ ἡγεμονικόν· τούτῳ οὖν ὀσφραίνεσθαι ἕλκοντι διὰ τῶν ἀναπνοῶν τὰς ὀσμάς.

2

I.54.2

Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ταῖς ἀναπνοαῖς ταῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος συνεισκρίνεσθαι τὴν ὀσμήν· ὅταν γοῦν ἡ ἀναπνοὴ βαρεῖα γένηται, κατὰ τραχύτητα μὴ συναισθάνεσθαι, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν ῥευματιζομένων.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 54

p. 1663

Chapter 54 · Smell

I.54.heading

On smell.²⁰²⁴

1 · The brain and inhaled odors

I.54.1

⟨Aëtius.⟩

Alcmaeon holds that the ruling faculty is in the brain; we therefore smell by means of this faculty as it draws in odors through inhalation.²⁰²⁵

2 · Smell and obstructed breathing

I.54.2

Empedocles holds that odor enters together with the inhalations of air. Thus, when breathing becomes labored, roughness prevents its being perceived at the same time, as happens to those suffering from a discharge.²⁰²⁶

2024.The editor supplies the heading from the Laurentian witness and Photius p. 112b32; it is absent from FP. The short reports concern the ruling faculty, inhalation, and the intervening medium. The longer Platonic excerpt asks how odors arise and why they resist a detailed classification.

2025.The supplied attribution covers excerpts 1-2: Aëtius IV.17.1-2, Diels p. 407, line 2. Hēgemonikon is singular here, unlike the governing parts in I.53.4. The English takes toutōi as referring to the ruling faculty located in the brain.

2026.The report connects odor with inhaled pneuma. Trachytēs is roughness, retained without supplying an unprinted anatomical explanation. Rheumatizomenoi are people affected by a flow or discharge, here in the context of impaired breathing and smell; the word is not the name of modern rheumatism.

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.