Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 233 of 879
Book I Chapter 20 · I.20.1f.3–I.20.1g
Ancient Greek
p. 4621f ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 3
Ἀναξίμανδρος, Ἀναξιμένης, Ἀναξαγόρας, Ἀρχέλαος, Διογένης, Λεύκιππος φθαρτὸν τὸν κόσμον.
Καὶ οἱ Στωικοὶ φθαρτὸν τὸν κόσμον, κατ’ ἐκπύρωσιν δέ.
Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὸν κόσμον ⟨γίνεσθαι καὶ⟩ φθείρεσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἀντεπικράτειαν τοῦ νείκους καὶ τῆς φιλίας.
1f ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 4
Δημόκριτος φθείρεσθαι τὸν κόσμον τοῦ μείζονος τὸν μικρότερον νικῶντος.
Ἐπίκουρος πλείστοις τρόποις τὸν κόσμον φθείρεσθαι· καὶ γὰρ ὡς ζῷον καὶ ὡς φυτὸν καὶ πολλαχῶς.
1g ⟨Ἀετίου⟩
Φιλόλαος διττὴν εἶναι τὴν φθορὰν τοῦ κόσμου, τὸ μὲν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πυρὸς ῥυέντος, τὸ δὲ ἐξ ὕδατος σεληνιακοῦ περιστροφῇ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀποχυθέντος.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 20
p. 4631f ⟨Aëtius⟩: Destruction of worlds
Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, Diogenes, and Leucippus held the world to be perishable.
The Stoics too held the world to be perishable, but through conflagration.570
Empedocles held that the world ⟨comes into being and⟩ perishes through the alternating dominance of Strife and Love.571
1f ⟨Aëtius⟩: Democritus and Epicurus
Democritus held that a world perishes when the larger overcomes the smaller.572
Epicurus held that a world perishes in very many ways: like an animal, like a plant, and in many other ways.
1g ⟨Aëtius⟩: Philolaus
Philolaus held that the destruction of the world is twofold: in one case, when fire streams down from heaven; in the other, through lunar water poured out by the revolution of the air.573
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 20 · I.20.1f.3–I.20.1g
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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.
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.