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Facing Pages · Branch 16 of 879
On arithmetic · Arith.10a–Arith.10b
Ancient Greek
p. 2810 ⟨Πλουτάρχου⟩
Πυθαγόρας πλείστῃ σπουδῇ περὶ τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς ἐχρήσατο, τάς τε τῶν ζῴων γενέσεις ἀνῆγεν εἰς ἀριθμοὺς καὶ τῶν ἀστέρων τὰς περιόδους. Ἔτι δὲ τοῖς θεοῖς ἀπεικάζων ἐπωνόμαζεν, ὡς Ἀπόλλωνα μὲν τὴν μονάδα οὖσαν, Ἄρτεμιν δὲ τὴν δυάδα … τὴν δὲ ἑξάδα Γάμον καὶ Ἀφροδίτην, τὴν δὲ ἑβδομάδα Καιρὸν καὶ Ἀθηνᾶν, Ἀσφάλειον δὲ Ποσειδῶνα τὴν ὀγδοάδα καὶ τὴν δεκάδα Παντέλειαν.
10 συνέχεια
Αὐτοῦ δὲ πάλιν τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τὸν μὲν ἄρτιον ἀτελῆ, πλήρη δὲ καὶ τέλειον ἀπέφηνε τὸν περιττόν, ὅτι μιγνύμενός τε πρὸς τὸν ἄρτιον ἀεὶ ποιεῖται ἐπικρατεῖν τὸν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν περισσόν, αὐτῷ τε πάλιν συντιθέμενος γεννᾷ τὸν ἄρτιον, ὁ δ’ ἄρτιος οὐδέποτε τὸν περιττόν, ὡς οὐ γόνιμος ὢν οὐδὲ ἔχων δύναμιν ἀρχῆς· ὥστε ἐν τῷ διαιρεῖσθαι δίχα πολλοὶ τῶν ἀρτίων εἰς περισσοὺς τὴν ἀνάλυσιν λαμβάνουσιν, ὡς ὁ ἓξ καὶ ὁ δέκα, τῶν δὲ περιττῶν εἰς ἀρτίους οὐδείς· ἀδιαίρετον γὰρ ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ στοιχεῖον εἰς ἕτερα· τοῖς δὲ ἄλλοις εἰς τὰ αὐτὰ πᾶσιν αἱ διαλύσεις.
Stobaeus, Volume I: On arithmetic
p. 2910 ⟨Plutarch⟩
Pythagoras devoted the greatest care to numbers, referring both the generation of living beings and the revolutions of the stars to them. He also named numbers by likening them to the gods: the monad was Apollo, the dyad Artemis … the number six Marriage and Aphrodite, seven the Opportune Moment and Athena, eight Poseidon the Steadfast, and ten All-Completeness.25
10 continued
As for number itself, he declared the even incomplete, but the odd full and complete. For when odd is combined with even, it always makes the odd result prevail; and when added to itself, it generates even, whereas even never generates odd, since it is neither fertile nor endowed with the power of a beginning. Thus, when divided in two, many even numbers resolve into odd numbers, such as six and ten; but no odd number resolves into even numbers. For the beginning and element cannot be divided into other things; all the other things, however, resolve into the same constituents.26
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · On arithmetic · Arith.10a–Arith.10b
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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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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.