Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 238 of 879
Book I Chapter 20 · I.20.5.1–I.20.5.3
Ancient Greek
p. 4725 ⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩ · 1
Παντελὴς δὲ φθορὰ τᾶς περὶ τὰν γᾶν διακοσμάσιος οὔτε γέγονεν οὔτε ἐσεῖταί ποκα. Διὸ καὶ τοῖς λέγοντεσσι τὰν τᾶς Ἑλλανικᾶς ἱστορίας ἀρχὰν ἀπὸ Ἰνάχω ἦμεν τῶ Ἀργείου ποθεκτέον οὕτως, ὡς οὐκ ἀπό τινος ἀρχᾶς πράτας ἀλλὰ τᾶς γενομένας μεταβολᾶς κατ’ αὐτόν.
5 ⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩ · 2
Πολλάκις γὰρ ἤδη καὶ γέγονε καὶ ἐσεῖται βάρβαρος ἁ Ἑλλάς, οὐχ ὑπ’ ἀνθρώπων μόνον γινομένα μετανάστατος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπ’ αὐτᾶς τᾶς φύσιος, οὔτε μείζονος οὔτε μείονος αὐτᾶς γινομένας, ἀλλὰ καινοτέρας ἀεὶ καὶ ποθ’ ἁμὲ ἀρχὰς λαμβανοίσας.
5 ⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩ · 3
Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶ ὅλω καὶ παντός, ἔτι δὲ γενέσιος καὶ φθοράσιος τᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ γινομένας, ὥς τ’ ἔχει ὥς θ’ ἕξει τὸν ἅπαντα αἰῶνα, τᾶς μὲν ἀεικινάτω φύσιος ἐάσας τᾶς δ’ ἀειπαθέος, ⟨καὶ⟩ τᾶς μὲν ἀεὶ κυβερνώσας τᾶς δὲ κυβερνωμένας, ἱκανῶς εἴρηταί μοι διὰ τούτων.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 20
p. 4735 ⟨The same author⟩: Human beginnings
Complete destruction of the ordering around the earth has never occurred and never will. Accordingly, those who say that Greek history begins with Inachus of Argos must be understood to mean that it begins, not from some absolute first beginning, but from the change that occurred in his time.587
5 Ocellus: Recurring changes
For Greece has often already become, and will again become, a land of non-Greeks, its population displaced not only by human beings but also by nature herself. Nature becomes neither greater nor smaller, but continually takes on beginnings that are new and relative to us.588
5 Ocellus: The enduring order
Concerning the whole and the universe, and also the generation and destruction occurring within it, how things stand and how they will stand for all eternity, with one nature ever moving and the other ever affected, ⟨and⟩ one always governing and the other governed, I have said enough in these remarks.589
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 20 · I.20.5.1–I.20.5.3
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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.