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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

Stobaeus, Volume I

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 22 · I.22.2.1–I.22.2.3

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English Page · Branch 273 of 879

Book I Chapter 22 · I.22.2.1–I.22.2.3

Ancient Greek

p. 542

2 ⟨Πλουτάρχου⟩ · 1

I.22.2.1

Ὅμηρος τὸν αἰθέρα τοῦ ἀέρος ὑψηλότερον εἶναί φησιν, εἴρηκε δὲ οὕτως·

Εἰς ἐλάτην ἀναβὰς περιμήκετον, ἥ τότ᾽ ἐν Ἴδῃ μακροτάτη πεφυυῖα δι᾽ ἠέρος αἰθέρ᾽ ἵκανεν.

2 ⟨Πλουτάρχου⟩ · 2

I.22.2.2

Ἐπέκεινα δὲ τοῦ αἰθέρος τὸν οὐρανὸν ὑπάρχειν ἀπεφήνατο· λέγει γὰρ τοιώδε·

Ὣς οἳ μὲν μάρναντο, σιδήρειος δ᾽ ὀρυμαγδὸς χάλκεον οὐρανὸν ἷκε δι᾽ αἰθέρος ἀτρυγέτοιο.

2 ⟨Πλουτάρχου⟩ · 3

I.22.2.3

Ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ τὸν Ὄλυμπον ὑπάρχειν κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν τινα καὶ θειότητα· φησὶ γὰρ οὕτως·

Ἠερίη δ᾽ ἀνέβη μέγαν οὐρανὸν Οὔλυμπόν τε.

Τὸ γὰρ ἀπωτάτω τῆς γῆς καὶ μήτε τὴν σκιὰν αὐτῆς μήτε τὰς ἀναθυμιάσεις προσδεχόμενον, ὡς ἀειλαμπὲς καὶ ὁλολαμπὲς Ὄλυμπον οἱ παλαιοὶ προσηγόρευσαν.

542

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 22

p. 543

2 ⟨Plutarch⟩: Aether above air

I.22.2.1

Homer says that aether is higher than air, expressing it thus:

Climbing a towering fir, which then on Ida had grown tallest, reaching through air into aether.683

2 ⟨Plutarch⟩: Heaven beyond aether

I.22.2.2

He declared that heaven lies beyond aether, for he says this:

So they fought, and the iron din reached the bronze heaven through the unharvested aether.684

2 ⟨Plutarch⟩: Olympus above all

I.22.2.3

Olympus lies above all, with a certain eminence and divinity; for he says:

At dawn she ascended great heaven and Olympus.

For the ancients named the region farthest from earth, which receives neither its shadow nor its exhalations, Olympus, as being ever-bright and wholly bright.685

543

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.