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 13 · I.13.heading–I.13.1a.2

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Book I Chapter 13 · I.13.heading–I.13.1a.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 342

Κεφάλαιον ΙΓʹ

I.13.heading

Περὶ αἰτίων.

1a ⟨Ἀετίου⟩

I.13.1a.1

Αἴτιόν ἐστι δι’ ὃ τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα, ἢ δι’ ὃ συμβαίνει τι. ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ὑπογραφικῶς.

Πλάτων τριχῶς τὸ αἴτιον, ὑφ’ οὗ, ἐξ οὗ, πρὸς ὅ· κυριώτατον δ’ ἡγεῖται τὸ ὑφ’ οὗ, τοῦτο δ’ ἦν τὸ ποιοῦν.

1a Πλάτωνος Τιμαίου

I.13.1a.2

Λέγει γοῦν ἐν Τιμαίῳ· “πᾶν δὲ αὖ τὸ γιγνόμενον ὑπ’ αἰτίου τινὸς ἐξ ἀνάγκης γίγνεται· παντὶ γὰρ ἀδύνατον χωρὶς αἰτίου γένεσιν ἔχειν. Ὅταν οὖν ὁ δημιουργὸς πρὸς τὸ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἔχον βλέπων ἀεί, τοιούτῳ τινὶ χράμενος παραδείγματι, τὴν ἰδέαν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἀπεργάζηται, καλὸν ἐξ ἀνάγκης οὕτως ἀποτελεῖσθαι πᾶν· ὁπόταν δ’ εἰς τὸ γεγονός, γενητῷ παραδείγματι προσχρώμενος, οὐ καλόν.”

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 13

p. 343

Chapter 13: Causes

I.13.heading

On causes.

1a ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩

I.13.1a.1

A cause is that because of which the result occurs, or because of which something happens. This suffices as an outline.³⁸⁸

Plato distinguishes cause in three ways: that by which, that from which, and that in relation to which. He considers the cause “by which” the most authoritative: this is the agent.³⁸⁹

1a Plato, Timaeus (28a-b)

I.13.1a.2

He says, indeed, in the Timaeus: “Again, everything that comes to be necessarily comes to be through some cause, for nothing can come to be without a cause. Whenever the craftsman, always looking toward what remains the same and using a pattern of that kind, fashions the form and power of his work, everything completed in this way must be beautiful. But whenever he looks toward what has come to be, using a generated pattern, it is not beautiful.”³⁹⁰

388.Aition is introduced through the phrase di’ ho, “that because of which.” The brief opening gives a general characterization; later excerpts distinguish different kinds of causes. Wachsmuth supplies the attribution to Aëtius and identifies the following quotation as from Plato’s Timaeus.

389.The three expressions distinguish an agent, material, and a pattern toward which the maker looks. The last is explained by the Timaeus quotation that follows. This is the reporter’s classification of Plato’s causes.

390.Dēmiourgos means a craftsman or maker. The distinction concerns the pattern used in making: an unchanging model or one that itself has come to be. Dynamis, “power,” concerns what the fashioned thing can do, alongside its form. Compare the accounts of patterns in I.12.2a-b.

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.