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.13.1b.1–I.13.1c.1

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Book I Chapter 13 · I.13.1b.1–I.13.1c.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 344

1b ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.13.1b.1

Πυθαγόρας τὰ μὲν πρῶτα αἴτια ἀσώματα, τὰ δὲ κατὰ μετοχὴν ἢ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς τῆς σωματικῆς ὑποστάσεως εἶναι.

1b ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2

I.13.1b.2

Ἀριστοτέλης ἔφησε δηλοῦν ἕκαστον χρώμενον σχήμασι τῆς ἑρμηνείας τοιούτοις, τό τε ἐξ οὗ λέγοντα ⟨τὴν ὕλην⟩, καὶ τὸ ὑφ’ οὗ τὸ ποιοῦν, τὸ δὲ καθ’ ὃ τὸ εἶδος, τὸ δὲ δι’ ὃ τὸ τέλος.

1c ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 1

I.13.1c.1

Ζήνωνος. Αἴτιον δ’ ὁ Ζήνων φησὶν εἶναι δι’ ὅ· οὗ δὲ αἴτιον συμβεβηκός· καὶ τὸ μὲν αἴτιον σῶμα, οὗ δὲ αἴτιον κατηγόρημα· ἀδύνατον δ’ εἶναι τὸ μὲν αἴτιον παρεῖναι, οὗ δέ ἐστιν αἴτιον μὴ ὑπάρχειν.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 13

p. 345

1b ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: Pythagoras

I.13.1b.1

Pythagoras held the primary causes to be incorporeal, but causes by participation or incidentally to belong to corporeal reality.³⁹¹

1b ⟨Aëtius, Opinions⟩: Aristotle

I.13.1b.2

Aristotle said that each is made clear by using expressions of this kind: “that from which” signifies ⟨matter⟩; “that by which,” the agent; “that according to which,” the form; and “that for the sake of which,” the end.³⁹²

1c ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: Zeno, part 1

I.13.1c.1

Zeno. Zeno says that a cause is that because of which; what it is a cause of is something that occurs. The cause is a body, whereas what it is a cause of is a predicate. It is impossible for the cause to be present without what it causes obtaining.³⁹³

391.The report distinguishes primary causes from things that count as causes in a derivative or incidental way. “Incidentally” renders kata symbebēkos; it need not mean that the result is random or uncaused.

392.These are the material, acting, formal, and final causes. “End” means the aim or purpose. Di’ ho, rendered “because of which” in the opening definition, here has the purposive sense “for the sake of which.” Wachsmuth prints “matter” as a supplement; he also notes that this Aristotelian report may belong to Didymus rather than Aëtius.

393.The contrast is between a bodily cause and what can be predicated of something as its effect: the next passage gives “to be alive” and “to be wise” as examples. Symbebēkos, rendered “something that occurs,” here names the result; katēgorēma, “predicate,” describes its logical form. “Obtaining” preserves the distinction from bodily existence.

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.