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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

Stobaeus, Volume I

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 10 · I.10.14.3–I.10.16a.1

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Book I Chapter 10 · I.10.14.3–I.10.16a.1

Ancient Greek

p. 308

14 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 3

I.10.14.3

Ἐπίκουρος ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν ὄντων σώματα λόγῳ θεωρητά, ἀμέτοχα κενοῦ, ἀγένητα, ἀδιάφθαρτα οὔτε θραυσθῆναι δυνάμενα οὔτε ἀλλοιωθῆναι. Εἴρηται δὲ ἄτομος οὐχ ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐλαχίστη, ἀλλ’ ὅτι οὐ δύναται τμηθῆναι, ἀπαθὴς οὖσα καὶ ἀμέτοχος κενοῦ.

15 Ἑρμοῦ

I.10.15

Ἡ γὰρ μονάς, οὖσα πάντων ἀρχὴ καὶ ῥίζα, ἐν πᾶσίν ἐστιν ὡς ἂν ῥίζα καὶ ἀρχή, ἄνευ δὲ ἀρχῆς οὐδέν· ἀρχὴ δὲ ἐξ οὐδενός, ἀλλ’ ἐξ αὑτῆς, εἴ γε ἀρχή ἐστι τῶν ἑτέρων. [μονὰς] οὖσα οὖν ἀρχὴ πάντα ἀριθμὸν ἐμπεριέχει, ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἐμπεριεχομένη· καὶ πάντα ἀριθμὸν γεννᾷ, ὑπὸ μηδενὸς γεννωμένη ἑτέρου ἀριθμοῦ. Πᾶν δὲ τὸ γεννώμενον ἀτελὲς καὶ διαιρετὸν καὶ αὐξητὸν καὶ μειωτόν· τῷ δὲ τελείῳ οὐδὲν τούτων γίγνεται. Αὕτη οὖν, ὦ Τάτ, κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν σοι ὑπογέγραπται τοῦ θεοῦ εἰκών.

16a ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.10.16a.1

Ἔκφαντος Συρακούσιος, εἷς τῶν Πυθαγορείων, πάντων τὰ ἀδιαίρετα σώματα καὶ τὸ κενόν. Τὰς γὰρ Πυθαγορικὰς μονάδας οὗτος πρῶτος ἀπεφήνατο σωματικάς.

308

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 10

p. 309

14 ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: Epicurus

I.10.14.3

Epicurus holds that the principles of existing things are bodies discernible by reason, containing no void, ungenerated and indestructible, incapable of being broken or altered. A body is called an atom not because it is the smallest, but because it cannot be cut, being unaffected and containing no void.347

15 Hermes

I.10.15

For the monad, being the principle and root of everything, is present in everything as its root and principle; without a principle there is nothing. A principle comes from nothing else, but from itself, if indeed it is the principle of other things. Being a principle, then, [the monad] contains every number, while being contained by none; and it generates every number, while being generated by no other number. Everything generated is incomplete, divisible, capable of increase and decrease; none of these things happens to what is complete. Such, then, Tat, is the image of god sketched for you as far as is possible.348

16a ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: Ecphantus

I.10.16a.1

Ecphantus of Syracuse, one of the Pythagoreans, makes indivisible bodies and the void the principles of everything. For he was the first to declare the Pythagorean units to be corporeal.349

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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.