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.21.9.15–I.21.9.17

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Facing Pages · Branch 266 of 879

Book I Chapter 21 · I.21.9.15–I.21.9.17

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 528

9 Ἑρμοῦ · 15

I.21.9.15

Ἕτερόν ἐστι γένος, ὦ Τάτ, τὸ τῶν καλουμένων κομητῶν, κατὰ καιρὸν ἐπιφαινομένων καὶ πάλιν μετὰ χρόνον ὀλίγον ἀφανῶν γινομένων, μήτε ἀνατελλόντων μήτε δυνόντων μήτε διαλυομένων, οἵτινες φανεροὶ ἄγγελοι καὶ κήρυκες καθολικῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων γίνονται μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι· οὗτοι δὲ τὸν τόπον ἔχουσιν ὑπὸ τὸν κύκλον τὸν τοῦ ἡλίου.

9 Ἑρμοῦ · 16

I.21.9.16

Ἐπὰν οὖν μέλλῃ τι τῷ κόσμῳ συμβαίνειν, οὗτοι φαίνονται ⟨καὶ⟩ φανέντες ὀλίγας ἡμέρας, πάλιν ὑπὸ τὸν κύκλον ἐλθόντες τοῦ ἡλίου ἀφανεῖς μένουσιν, ἐν τῷ ἀπηλιώτῃ φανέντες ⟨ἄλλοι⟩, ἄλλοι δὲ ἐν τῷ βορρᾷ, ἄλλοι δὲ ἐν τῷ λιβί, ἄλλοι δὲ ἐν τῷ νότῳ· μάντεις δὲ τούτους προσηγορεύσαμεν. Καὶ ἀστέρων ἥδε φύσις.

9 Ἑρμοῦ · 17

I.21.9.17

[Ἀστέρες δὲ ἄστρων διαφορὰν ἔχουσιν. Ἀστέρες μὲν γάρ εἰσιν οἱ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ αἰωρούμενοι, ἄστρα δὲ τὰ ἐγκείμενα ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, συμφερόμενα δὲ τῷ οὐρανῷ, ἐξ ὧν δώδεκα ζῴδια προσηγορεύσαμεν.]

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 21

p. 529

9 Hermes: Comets as heralds

I.21.9.15

There is another kind, Tat, the so-called comets. They appear at the appointed occasion and become invisible again after a short time, neither rising nor setting nor dissolving. They become visible messengers and heralds of general events that are about to occur. Their region lies below the circle of the sun.⁶⁶⁴

9 Hermes: Appearances in the quarters

I.21.9.16

Whenever something is about to happen to the world, these appear ⟨and⟩, after appearing for a few days, pass again beneath the sun’s circle and remain invisible. ⟨Some⟩ appear in the east, others in the north, others in the southwest, and others in the south. We have called them diviners. Such is the nature of the stars.⁶⁶⁵

9 Hermes: A bracketed distinction

I.21.9.17

[Stars differ from star-groups. Stars are those borne aloft in heaven; star-groups are those embedded in the body of heaven and carried along with it, twelve of which we have named zodiacal signs.]⁶⁶⁶

664.Komētai means “long-haired” stars, hence comets. The dialogue distinguishes them from the dissolving lights below the moon and attributes a prophetic function to them. Apotelesmata, “events” or “outcomes,” carries the sense of effects brought to fulfillment in this astrological account.

665.The directions are named by winds. Lips conventionally denotes the southwest wind, so the printed libi is rendered “southwest,” even though this produces an uneven list of quarters. “Beneath” follows hypo here, as in the preceding description of the comets’ region.

666.Wachsmuth brackets this entire paragraph as an ancient gloss, following Usener. Both asteres and astra can ordinarily mean “stars”; “star-groups” makes the gloss’s special distinction readable in English, without imposing it on every occurrence of either word elsewhere in the volume.

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.