Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Book I Chapter 1 · I.1.23c–I.1.24
Ancient Greek
p. 5223 ⟨Ὀρφέως⟩ (γʹ)
24 ⟨Ἀδήλου φιλοσόφου⟩
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 1
p. 5323 ⟨Orpheus⟩ (3)
His body, shining all around, boundless, unshakable, unquivering, strong-limbed, surpassing in might, is formed thus: the god’s shoulders and chest and broad back are the wide-powered air; wings have grown upon him, on which he flies over all. His sacred belly is earth, the mother of all, and the steep peaks of mountains. His belt about the middle is the surge of the deep-roaring sea and ocean; his lowest foundation is the roots within the ground, moldy Tartarus, and the earth’s furthest limits. Having hidden everything away, he was to bring it forth again from his heart into joyful light, working wonders anew. …50
24 ⟨An unidentified philosopher⟩
What, then, is God? Mind. And what is mind? Understanding. Take Zeus to be that from which we always have our life.51
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 1 · I.1.23c–I.1.24
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.