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.21.7a–I.21.7c

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Facing Pages · Branch 257 of 879

Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.7a–I.21.7c

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Ancient Greek

p. 510

7a Φιλολάου Περὶ κόσμω

I.21.7a

Ἀνάγκα τὰ ἐόντα εἶμεν πάντα ἢ περαίνοντα ἢ ἄπειρα ἢ περαίνοντά τε καὶ ἄπειρα, ἄπειρα δὲ μόνον οὐ κα εἴη. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν φαίνεται οὔτ᾽ ἐκ περαινόντων πάντων ἐόντα οὔτ᾽ ἐξ ἀπείρων πάντων, δῆλον τάρα ὅτι ἐκ περαινόντων τε καὶ ἀπείρων ὅ τε κόσμος καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ συναρμόχθη. Δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐκ περαινόντων περαίνοντα, τὰ δ᾽ ἐκ περαινόντων τε καὶ ἀπείρων περαίνοντά τε καὶ οὐ περαίνοντα, τὰ δ᾽ ἐξ ἀπείρων ἄπειρα φαίνεται.

7b ⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩

I.21.7b

Καὶ πάντα γα μὰν τὰ γιγνωσκόμενα ἀριθμὸν ἔχοντι. Οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε οὐδὲν οὔτε νοηθῆμεν οὔτε γνωσθῆμεν ἄνευ τούτου.

7c ⟨Τοῦ αὐτοῦ⟩

I.21.7c

Ὁ γα μὰν ἀριθμὸς ἔχει δύο μὲν ἴδια εἴδεα, περισσὸν καὶ ἄρτιον, τρίτον δὲ ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων μιχθέντων, ἀρτιοπέρισσον. Ἑκατέρω δὲ τῶ εἴδεος πολλαὶ μορφαί, ὡς ἕκαστον αὐταυτὸ σημαίνει.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 21

p. 511

7a Philolaus, On the World: Limiters

I.21.7a

All things that are must be either limiting or unlimited, or both limiting and unlimited; they could not be unlimited alone. Since, then, they plainly consist neither wholly of limiters nor wholly of unlimiteds, it is clear that both the world and the things within it were fitted together from limiters and unlimiteds. Things in actual experience show this too. Those made from limiters appear limiting, those from limiters and unlimiteds both limiting and not limiting, and those from unlimiteds unlimited.⁶⁴²

7b ⟨The same author⟩: Number and knowledge

I.21.7b

Indeed, all things that are known have number. For without it nothing can be either conceived or known.⁶⁴³

7c ⟨The same author⟩: Kinds of number

I.21.7c

Number has two kinds of its own, odd and even, and a third formed from the mixture of both, even-odd. Each of the two kinds has many forms, as each thing itself indicates.⁶⁴⁴

642.This is Philolaus fragment 2 in modern numbering. Excerpts 7a-d and 8 belong to the generally accepted core of his fragments, unlike the On the Soul extract in I.20.2; see C. A. Huffman, “Philolaus,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, §§1.3-1.4. Perainonta is active, “things that limit,” rather than simply things already bounded. The Doric forms are retained on the Greek side.

643.Philolaus fragment 4. “Have number” is the wording of this fragment; it has not been replaced by the different proposition “are numbers.” Wachsmuth supplies “the same author” for 7b-d and 8; these headings refer back to Philolaus.

644.Philolaus fragment 5. The fragment names but does not define the “even-odd.” Its last clause is textually difficult; “as each thing itself indicates” follows Wachsmuth’s printed wording without supplying a particular example or theory of the third kind.

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.