Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Book I Chapter 6 · I.6.17a.3
Ancient Greek
p. 20417a ⟨Ἀετίου⟩· συνέχεια
Ἀριστοτέλης, αἰτίαν κατὰ συμβεβηκός, ἐν τοῖς καθ’ ὁρμὴν ἕνεκά τινος γινομένοις ἄστατον καὶ ἄδηλον. Καὶ ὑποθέσεις μὲν δύο ταῖς ἀρχαῖς ἐνυπάρχειν, τάξιν τε καὶ ἀταξίαν, αἰτίας δὲ τέτταρας ἐν τοῖς ὅλοις, καθ’ ἃς ἅπαντα συνίσταται, νοῦν, φύσιν, ἀνάγκην, τύχην· καὶ τούτων διπλῆν ἑκάστην, τὴν μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγμασι, τὴν δ’ ἐν ἄλλοις· τελεῖσθαι δὲ τὰ μὲν πάντως, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον, τὰ δ’ ἄλλοτε ἄλλως. Τὴν δ’ εἱμαρμένην οὐκ αἰτίαν μέν, τρόπον δέ τινα αἰτίας, συμβεβηκότα πως τοῖς τῆς ἀνάγκης τεταγμένοις.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 6
p. 20517a ⟨Aëtius⟩, continued: Aristotle
Aristotle calls chance an incidental cause, unstable and obscure, in events arising from an impulse for the sake of some end. Two underlying conditions belong to the principles, order and disorder; and there are four causes in the universe, through which everything is constituted: intellect, nature, necessity, and chance.226 Each of these is twofold, one form operating in human affairs and the other in other things. Some things come about invariably, others for the most part, and others differently at different times. Fate is not a cause, but a certain mode of causation, somehow incidental to the ordered operations of necessity.227
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 6 · I.6.17a.3
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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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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.
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