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 20 · I.20.1d.1–I.20.1e.1

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Book I Chapter 20 · I.20.1d.1–I.20.1e.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 458

1d ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.20.1d.1

Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, Ἀναξαγόρας, Δημόκριτος, Ἐπίκουρος καὶ πάντες, ὅσοι κατὰ συναθροισμὸν τῶν λεπτομερῶν σωμάτων κοσμοποιοῦσι, συγκρίσεις μὲν καὶ διακρίσεις εἰσάγουσι, γενέσεις δὲ καὶ φθορὰς οὐ κυρίως. Οὐ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ ποιὸν ἐξ ἀλλοιώσεως, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ποσὸν ἐκ συναθροισμοῦ ταύτας γίνεσθαι.

1d ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2

I.20.1d.2

Πυθαγόρας καὶ πάντες, ὅσοι παθητὴν τὴν ὕλην ὑποτίθενται, κυρίως γενέσεις καὶ φθορὰς γίνεσθαι· ἐκ γὰρ ἀλλοιώσεως τῶν στοιχείων καὶ τροπῆς καὶ ἀναλύσεως [γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς] παράθεσιν καὶ μῖξιν, κρᾶσίν τε καὶ σύγχυσιν γίνεσθαι.

1e ⟨Ἀρείου Διδύμου⟩ · 1

I.20.1e.1

Ζήνωνι καὶ Κλεάνθει καὶ Χρυσίππῳ ἀρέσκει τὴν οὐσίαν μεταβάλλειν οἷον εἰς σπέρμα τὸ πῦρ, καὶ πάλιν ἐκ τούτου τοιαύτην ἀποτελεῖσθαι τὴν διακόσμησιν, οἵα πρότερον ἦν.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 20

p. 459

1d ⟨Aëtius⟩: Combination and separation

I.20.1d.1

Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Epicurus, and all who construct worlds by gathering together finely divided bodies introduce combinations and separations, but not generation and destruction in the strict sense. For these occur, on their account, not in respect of quality through alteration, but in respect of quantity through aggregation.⁵⁶⁴

1d ⟨Aëtius⟩: Alterable matter

I.20.1d.2

Pythagoras and all who posit matter capable of being affected hold that generation and destruction occur in the strict sense. For from the alteration, transformation, and dissolution of the elements [of generation and destruction] arise juxtaposition and mixture, blending and fusion.⁵⁶⁵

1e ⟨Arius Didymus⟩: The world as seed

I.20.1e.1

Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus hold that substance changes into fire as though into a seed, and that from this the world’s ordering is once again brought to completion just as it was before.⁵⁶⁶

564.The compiler groups these philosophers by the persistence of their underlying constituents. The grouping does not make their constituents identical: the text says “finely divided bodies,” not that every thinker listed posits atoms. The contrast is between qualitative alteration and quantitative aggregation.

565.The four kinds of combination use the vocabulary explained in chapter 17, though this report does not give those definitions. Wachsmuth rejects “of generation and destruction” with reference to the parallel text. The intrusive words remain bracketed in both languages and should be skipped in a continuous reading.

566.Wachsmuth supplies the attribution to Arius Didymus, physical fragment 36 in Diels. Fire is compared to a seed from which the ordered world develops again; the return to fire does not mean that substance becomes nothing. Compare the reports of the cosmic cycle in I.17.3.

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.