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 22 · I.22.heading–I.22.1a.2

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Book I Chapter 22 · I.22.heading–I.22.1a.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 532

Κεφάλαιον ΚΒʹ

I.22.heading

Περὶ τάξεως τοῦ κόσμου· ⟨εἰ ἓν τὸ πᾶν.⟩

1a ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.22.1a.1

Παρμενίδης στεφάνας εἶναι περιπεπλεγμένας ἐπαλλήλους, τὴν μὲν ἐκ τοῦ ἀραιοῦ, τὴν δὲ ἐκ τοῦ πυκνοῦ· μικτὰς δὲ ἄλλας ⟨ἐκ⟩ φωτὸς καὶ σκότους μεταξὺ τούτων· καὶ τὸ περιέχον δὲ πάσας τείχους δίκην στερεὸν ὑπάρχειν, ὑφ᾽ ᾧ πυρώδης στεφάνη· καὶ τὸ μεσαίτατον πασῶν περὶ ὃ πάλιν πυρώδης·

1a ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2

I.22.1a.2

τῶν δὲ συμμιγῶν τὴν μεσαιτάτην ἁπάσαις αἰτίαν πάσης κινήσεως καὶ γενέσεως ὑπάρχειν, ἥντινα καὶ δαίμονα κυβερνῆτιν καὶ κλῃδοῦχον ἐπονομάζει, δίκην τε καὶ ἀνάγκην.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 22

p. 533

Chapter 22: The Ordering of the World

I.22.heading

On the ordering of the world; ⟨whether the all is one.⟩⁶⁷⁰

1a ⟨Aëtius⟩: Parmenides’ rings

I.22.1a.1

Parmenides held that there are rings wound one about another in succession, one made of the rarefied and another of the dense, with others between them mixed ⟨from⟩ light and darkness. What encloses them all, like a wall, is solid, and beneath it lies a fiery ring; the region at the very center of them all is likewise solid, with another fiery ring around it.⁶⁷¹

1a ⟨Aëtius⟩: The governing goddess

I.22.1a.2

Of the mixed rings, the middlemost is the cause of all motion and generation for them all. He also names it the governing goddess and key-holder, Justice and Necessity.⁶⁷²

670.The second part of the title is supplied here by Wachsmuth from the evidence of Photius and the contents tradition. It is also transmitted as a separate heading within this chapter, before excerpt 3a. The first part concerns the arrangement of the world’s regions; the second concerns the number of worlds and their relation to the all.

671.Stephanai means “wreaths” or “crowns,” here rendered “rings.” The central region’s solidity is understood from the preceding clause: the Greek does not repeat “solid.” This is a later report about Parmenides, not a surviving verse quotation. Its compressed arrangement should not be treated as an unambiguous diagram of his cosmology.

672.The feminine “which” refers back to the middlemost mixed ring. The report connects it with divine governance under several names; it does not simply identify this ring with the solid central region of the preceding sentence. Wachsmuth’s wording follows editorial repairs in the clause describing it as the cause of motion and generation.

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.