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.20.9a–I.20.9b

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Book I Chapter 20 · I.20.9a–I.20.9b

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Ancient Greek

p. 488

9a ⟨Ἐν ταὐτῷ⟩

I.20.9a

Ὅτι δὲ τὸ πᾶν ἀΐδιον, δηλοῖ σαφῶς· λέγει γοῦν ἐν ⟨τῷ⟩ Τιμαίῳ οὕτως·

Ἔκ τε δὴ τούτων καὶ τοιούτων καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τεττάρων τὸ τοῦ κόσμου σῶμα ἐγενήθη δι’ ἀναλογίας ὁμολογῆσαν, φιλίαν τε ἔσχεν ἐκ τούτων, ὥστε εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ αὑτῷ ξυνελθὸν ἄλυτον ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων πλὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ ξυνδήσαντος γενέσθαι.

9b ⟨Ἐν ταὐτῷ⟩

I.20.9b

Χρόνος δ’ οὖν μετ’ οὐρανοῦ γέγονεν, ἵνα ἅμα γεννηθέντες ἅμα καὶ λυθῶσιν, ἄν ποτε λύσις τις αὐτῶν γίγνηται, καὶ κατὰ τὸ παράδειγμα τῆς διαιωνίας φύσεως, ἵν’ ὡς ὁμοιότατος αὐτῷ κατὰ δύναμιν ᾖ· τὸ μὲν γὰρ δὴ παράδειγμα πάντα αἰῶνά ἐστιν ὄν, ὁ δ’ αὖ διὰ τέλους τὸν ἅπαντα ⟨χρόνον⟩ γεγονώς τε καὶ ὢν καὶ ἐσόμενος.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 20

p. 489

9a ⟨In the same work⟩: The world’s bond

I.20.9a

He makes it clear that the universe is eternal, for he says this in the Timaeus:⁶¹¹

“From these constituents, of this kind and four in number, the body of the world came into being, brought into agreement by proportion. From them it acquired friendship, so that, united into the same whole with itself, it became indissoluble by anyone other than the one who bound it together.”⁶¹²

9b ⟨In the same work⟩: Time and eternity

I.20.9b

Time, then, came into being together with heaven, so that, having been born together, they might also be dissolved together, if they should ever undergo dissolution; and it came into being after the model of the everlasting nature, so that it might resemble that model as closely as possible. For the model is in being for all eternity, while heaven, throughout the whole of ⟨time⟩, has come to be, is, and will be.⁶¹³

611.The introduction is the compiler’s interpretation; the quotation is Timaeus 32c. Wachsmuth supplies the heading “in the same work” and the Greek article before the dialogue’s title. The translation does not turn the compiler’s claim of eternity into a claim that Plato here denies generation.

612.The four constituents are fire, air, water, and earth. Proportion explains their unity, while the final exception reserves to the maker the power to undo the bond. The Greek describes a world that came into being but cannot be dissolved by another agent.

613.Timaeus 38b-c. The condition “if ... ever” is preserved: dissolution is not predicted. The final contrast opposes the model’s abiding being to heaven’s existence across time. Wachsmuth supplies “time” from Plato. The antecedent of the earlier masculine “it” can be read in relation to time or heaven; the final masculine subject is understood here as heaven.

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.