Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 27 of 879
Book I Chapter 1 · I.1.23a–I.1.23b
Ancient Greek
p. 5023 ⟨Ὀρφέως⟩ (αʹ)
23 ⟨Ὀρφέως⟩ (βʹ)
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 1
p. 5123 ⟨Orpheus⟩ (1)
Zeus came first; Zeus is last, the lord of thunder. Zeus is the head, Zeus the middle; from Zeus all is fashioned. Zeus became male; Zeus was an immortal bride. Zeus is the foundation of earth and starry heaven. Zeus is king; Zeus himself is the first begetter of all. One power, one divinity arose, the great ruler of all: ⟨and⟩ one royal body in which all these things revolve, fire and water and earth and aether, night and day, and Metis, first progenitor, and Eros of many delights; for all these lie within the mighty body of Zeus.48
23 ⟨Orpheus⟩ (2)
His head and his fair countenance, to behold, are the radiant sky, around which golden locks of glittering stars float in surpassing beauty. His two golden bull’s horns on either side are sunrise and sunset, the paths of the heavenly gods. His eyes are the sun and the moon that faces it; his unerring royal ear is the imperishable aether, through which he hears and perceives everything.49 No voice, no shout, no crash, no utterance escapes the ears of mighty Zeus, the son of Cronus. Such are his immortal head and his intelligence.
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 1 · I.1.23a–I.1.23b
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.