Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 171 of 879
Book I Chapter 12 · I.12.2a.2–I.12.2b
Ancient Greek
p. 3382a ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 2
Εἶναι δὲ τὴν ἰδέαν ἀΐδιον οὐσίαν, αἰτίαν καὶ ἀρχὴν τοῦ ἕκαστον εἶναι τοιοῦτον οἵα ἐστὶν αὐτή. Καθάπερ οὖν τὰς κατὰ μέρος ὥσπερ ἀρχέτυπα τῶν αἰσθητῶν προηγείσθαι συμβέβηκε σωμάτων, οὕτως τὴν πάσας ἐν ἑαυτῇ περιέχουσαν καλλίστην καὶ τελειοτάτην οὐσίαν ὑπάρχειν ⟨τούδε παράδειγμα τοῦ κόσμου⟩.
2b Πλάτωνος Παρμενίδου
Λέγει γοῦν καὶ ἐν τῷ Παρμενίδῃ· “Ἀλλ’, ὦ Παρμενίδη, μάλιστα ἔμοιγε καταφαίνεται ὧδε ἔχειν· τὰ μὲν εἴδη ταῦτα ὥσπερ παραδείγματα ἑστάναι ἐν τῇ φύσει, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα τούτοις ἐοικέναι καὶ εἶναι ὁμοιώματα· καὶ ἡ μέθεξις αὕτη τοῖς ἄλλοις γίγνεσθαι τῶν εἰδῶν οὐκ ἄλλη τις ἢ εἰκασθῆναι αὐτοῖς.”
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 12
p. 3392a ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Plato, part 2
A form is an eternal substance, the cause and principle of each thing’s being such as the form itself is. Just as the particular forms have priority over sensible bodies as their archetypes, so the most beautiful and most perfect substance, containing all the forms within itself, is ⟨the pattern of this world⟩.384
2b Plato, Parmenides (132c-d)
He says, indeed, in the Parmenides as well: “But, Parmenides, this is how the matter seems most clearly to me: these forms stand in nature as patterns, and the other things resemble them and are likenesses of them; and this participation of the other things in the forms is nothing other than their being made like them.”385
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 12 · I.12.2a.2–I.12.2b
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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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