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Book I Chapter 16 · I.16.2.4–I.16.2.6
Ancient Greek
p. 3862 Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Τιμαίου · 4
τὴν δὲ ὀξυτέραν φορὰν καὶ γένους πυρὸς ἑτέρου προσπίπτουσαν καὶ διακρίνουσαν τὴν ὄψιν μέχρι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, αὐτάς τε τῶν ὀμμάτων τὰς διεξόδους βίᾳ διωθοῦσαν καὶ τήκουσαν, πῦρ μὲν ἀθρόον καὶ ὕδωρ, ὃ δάκρυον καλοῦμεν, ἐκεῖθεν ἐκχέουσαν, αὐτὴν δὲ οὖσαν πῦρ, ἐξ ἐναντίας ἀπαντῶσαν, καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἐκπηδῶντος πυρὸς οἷον ἀπὸ ἀστραπῆς, τοῦ δὲ εἰσιόντος καὶ περὶ τὸ νοτερὸν κατασβεννυμένου, παντοδαπῶν ἐν τῇ κυκήσει ταύτῃ γιγνομένων χρωμάτων, μαρμαρυγὰς μὲν τὸ πάθος προσείπομεν, τὸ δὲ τοῦτο ἀπεργαζόμενον λαμπρόν τε καὶ στίλβον ἐπωνομάσαμεν.
2 Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Τιμαίου · 5
Τὸ δὲ τούτων αὖ μεταξὺ πυρὸς γένος, πρὸς μὲν τὸ τῶν ὀμμάτων ὑγρὸν ἀφικνούμενον καὶ κεραννύμενον αὐτῷ, στίλβον δὲ οὔ, τῇ δὲ διὰ τῆς νοτίδος αὐγῇ τοῦ πυρὸς μιγνυμένῃ, χρῶμα ἔναιμον παρασχομένῃ τοὔνομα ἐρυθρὸν λέγομεν. Λαμπρὸν δὲ ἐρυθρῷ λευκῷ τε μιγνύμενον ξανθὸν γέγονε.
2 Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Τιμαίου · 6
Τὸ δὲ ὅσον μέτρον ὅσοις, οὐδ’ εἴ τις εἰδείη, νοῦν ἔχει τὸ λέγειν, ὧν μήτε τινὰ ἀνάγκην μήτε τὸν εἰκότα λόγον καὶ μετρίως ἄν τις εἰπεῖν εἴη δυνατός·
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 16
p. 3872 Plato, Timaeus 67c-68d, part 4
But a more piercing rush of another kind of fire strikes and disperses the visual stream all the way to the eyes, forcibly thrusting through and melting the very passages of the eyes. It pours from them a rush of fire together with water, which we call tears; and, itself being fire, it meets what comes from the opposite direction. One fire leaps out as if from a lightning flash, while the other enters and is quenched in the moisture, and all sorts of colors arise in this commotion. We have called this experience “dazzling flashes,” and have named what produces it “bright” and “glittering.”460
2 Plato, Timaeus 67c-68d, part 5
There is also a kind of fire intermediate between these, which reaches the moisture of the eyes and mixes with it, but does not glitter. As the gleam of fire mixes through the moisture and produces a bloodlike color, we give it the name “red.” Brightness mixed with red and white produces golden yellow.461
2 Plato, Timaeus 67c-68d, part 6
As for how much of each is mixed with how much, it makes no sense to state it even if one knew, since one could give neither a necessary explanation nor even a moderately satisfactory likely account of these proportions.462
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 16 · I.16.2.4–I.16.2.6
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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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