Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

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 16 · I.16.1.4–I.16.1.7

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 192 of 879

Book I Chapter 16 · I.16.1.4–I.16.1.7

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Ancient Greek

p. 380

1 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 4

I.16.1.4

Πλάτων φλόγα ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων σύμμετρα μόρια ἔχουσαν πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν.

1 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 5

I.16.1.5

Ἀρίσταρχος Σάμιος μαθηματικός, ἀκουστὴς Στράτωνος, φῶς εἶναι τὸ χρῶμα τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις ἐπιπῖπτον.

1 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 6

I.16.1.6

Ζήνων ὁ Στωικὸς τὰ χρώματα πρώτους εἶναι σχηματισμοὺς τῆς ὕλης.

1 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 7

I.16.1.7

Δημόκριτος φύσει μὲν μηδὲν εἶναι χρῶμα, τὰ μὲν γὰρ στοιχεῖα ἄποια, τά τε ναστὰ καὶ τὸ κενόν· τὰ δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν συγκρίματα κεχρῶσθαι διαταγῇ τε καὶ ῥυθμῷ καὶ προτροπῇ, ὧν ἡ μέν ἐστι τάξις, ὁ δὲ σχῆμα, ἡ δὲ θέσις· παρὰ ταῦτα γὰρ αἱ φαντασίαι. Τούτων δὲ τῶν πρὸς τὴν φαντασίαν χρωμάτων τέτταρες αἱ διαφοραί, λευκοῦ, μέλανος, ἐρυθροῦ, ὠχροῦ.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 16

p. 381

1 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Plato

I.16.1.4

Plato held color to be a flame coming from bodies, with particles commensurate with sight.⁴⁴⁹

1 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Aristarchus

I.16.1.5

Aristarchus, the Samian mathematician and pupil of Strato, held color to be light falling upon the underlying objects.⁴⁵⁰

1 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Zeno

I.16.1.6

Zeno the Stoic held colors to be the primary configurations of matter.⁴⁵¹

1 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Democritus

I.16.1.7

Democritus held that no color exists by nature: the elements, both the solid units and the void, lack qualities. Their compounds, however, are colored through arrangement, configuration, and orientation, which mean, respectively, order, shape, and position; for appearances arise from these. Of these colors as they appear to us there are four varieties: white, black, red, and pale yellow.⁴⁵²

449.Symmetra describes a relation of size suitable for vision, rather than requiring all the particles to be exactly equal. The fuller quotation from the Timaeus in excerpt 2 distinguishes particles that are smaller, larger, and equal in size to those of the visual stream.

450.The report identifies Aristarchus by his place of origin and his connection with Strato. Hypokeimena here denotes the objects receiving the light. Compare the statement about bodies in darkness later in this excerpt.

451.Schēmatismoi are configurations or ways in which something is formed. “Primary” renders prōtous; the compressed report does not explain whether this priority is temporal or explanatory.

452.The solid units are the atoms. The denial of qualities concerns the elements, whereas color belongs to their compounds as perceived. Rhythmos here has the older sense of form or configuration, explicitly glossed by schēma, “shape.” The three Greek terms are retained in Wachsmuth’s order, including protropē, “orientation.”

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.