Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 236 of 879
Book I Chapter 20 · I.20.3.1–I.20.3.2
Ancient Greek
p. 4683 Ὀκέλλου · 1
Ὀκέλλου.
Ὄκελλος ἀΐδιον τὸν κόσμον· ὧδι γὰρ ἐν τοῖς Περὶ τᾶς τῶ παντὸς φύσιος λέγει·
Ἔτι δὲ ⟨τὸ ἄναρχον⟩ καὶ τὸ ἀτελεύτατον καὶ τῶ σχήματος καὶ τᾶς κινάσιος καὶ τῶ χρόνω καὶ τᾶς ὠσίας τοῦτο πιστοῦται, διότι ἀγένητος ὁ κόσμος καὶ ἄφθαρτος. Ἅ τε γὰρ τῶ σχήματος ἰδέα κύκλος, οὗτος δὲ πάντοθεν ἴσος καὶ ὅμοιος, διόπερ ἄναρχος καὶ ἀτελεύτατος· ἅ τε τᾶς κινάσιος κατὰ κύκλον, αὕτα δὲ ἀπαράβατος καὶ ἀδιέξοδος·
3 Ὀκέλλου · 2
ὅ τε χρόνος ἄπειρος, ἐν ᾧπερ ἁ κίνασις, διὰ τὸ μήτε ἀρχὰν εἰληφέναι τὸ κινούμενον μήτε τελευτὰν λαψεῖσθαι· ἅ γε μὰν ὠσία τῶν πραγμάτων ἀνέκβατος καὶ ἀμετάβλατος διὰ τὸ μήτε ἀπὸ τῶ χείρονος ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον μήτε ἀπὸ τῶ βέλτιονος ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον πεφυκέναι μεταβάλλεν.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 20
p. 4693 Ocellus: No beginning or end
Ocellus.581
Ocellus held the world to be eternal, for he says this in On the Nature of the Universe:
“Further, ⟨the absence of a beginning⟩ and the absence of an end in its shape, motion, time, and substance confirm that the world is ungenerated and imperishable. For its shape is a circle, which is equal and alike on every side, and therefore has neither beginning nor end. Its motion too is circular, undeviating and admitting no exit.”582
3 Ocellus: Time and substance
“Time, in which the motion occurs, is infinite, because what moves has neither received a beginning nor will receive an end. The substance of things, moreover, admits no departure from its condition and no change, since it is not by nature capable of changing either from worse to better or from better to worse.”583
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 20 · I.20.3.1–I.20.3.2
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.