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 21 · I.21.6b–I.21.6c.2

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Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.6b–I.21.6c.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 506

6b ⟨Ἀετίου⟩

I.21.6b

Ἀριστοτέλης οὔτε ἔμψυχον ὅλον δι᾽ ὅλου οὔτε λογικὸν οὔτε νοερὸν οὔτε προνοίᾳ διοικούμενον. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ οὐράνια πάντων τούτων κοινωνεῖν, σφαίρας γὰρ περιέχειν ἐμψύχους καὶ ζωτικάς, τὰ δὲ περίγεια μηδενὸς αὐτῶν, τῆς δ᾽ εὐταξίας κατὰ συμβεβηκός, οὐ προηγουμένως μετέχειν. Εἰ δὲ τρέφεται ὁ κόσμος, καὶ φθαρήσεται· ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδεμιᾶς δεῖται τροφῆς, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἀΐδιος.

6c ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.21.6c.1

Πυθαγόρας φησὶ γενητὸν κατ᾽ ἐπίνοιαν τὸν κόσμον, οὐ κατὰ χρόνον. Ὃς καὶ πρῶτος ὠνόμασε τὴν τῶν ὅλων περιοχὴν κόσμον ἐκ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ τάξεως. Ἄρξασθαι δὲ τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ κόσμου ἀπὸ πυρὸς καὶ τοῦ πέμπτου στοιχείου.

6c ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2

I.21.6c.2

Πέντε δὲ σχημάτων ὄντων στερεῶν, ἅπερ καλεῖται καὶ μαθηματικά, ἐκ μὲν τοῦ κύβου φησὶ γεγονέναι τὴν γῆν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς πυραμίδος τὸ πῦρ, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ὀκταέδρου τὸν ἀέρα, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ εἰκοσαέδρου ⟨τὸ ὕδωρ, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ δωδεκαέδρου⟩ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς σφαῖραν.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 21

p. 507

6b ⟨Aëtius⟩: Aristotle

I.21.6b

Aristotle held that the world is not throughout its whole extent endowed with soul, reason, or intelligence, or governed by providence. For the heavenly regions share in all these things, containing ensouled and living spheres, while the regions about earth share in none of them; they participate in good order incidentally, not primarily. If the world is nourished, it will also perish; but it needs no nourishment, and for that reason is eternal.⁶³⁶

6c ⟨Aëtius⟩: Pythagoras and cosmic order

I.21.6c.1

Pythagoras says that the world is generated in conception, not in time. He was also the first to call the enclosure of all things a kosmos, from the order within it. The generation of the world began from fire and the fifth element.⁶³⁷

6c ⟨Aëtius⟩: Five solid figures

I.21.6c.2

There are five solid figures, also called mathematical figures. He says that earth came from the cube, fire from the pyramid, air from the octahedron, ⟨water⟩ from the icosahedron, ⟨and⟩ the sphere of the universe ⟨from the dodecahedron⟩.⁶³⁸

636.This is a doxographical summary attributed to Aristotle, not a quotation from a named Aristotelian work. Its contrast concerns the cosmic regions and their governance; the statement about the earthly region should not be expanded into a denial that individual terrestrial animals have souls.

637.“In conception” distinguishes an explanatory account of how the world is constituted from an event at a first moment in time. The report assembles several claims under Pythagoras’s name. Kosmos can mean “order”; the claim of first naming is the ancient compiler’s, not an independently established priority. The fifth element is not defined here.

638.The five are the regular solids: the “pyramid” is the tetrahedron. The supplement restoring water and the dodecahedron comes from the parallel doxographical tradition. The scheme resembles Plato’s Timaeus 53c-55c; here it is transmitted under Pythagoras’s name.

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.