Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

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 24 · I.24.1n.1–I.24.1o.2

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 286 of 879

Book I Chapter 24 · I.24.1n.1–I.24.1o.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 568

1n ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.24.1n.1

Ξενοφάνης ἐκ νεφῶν μὲν πεπυρωμένων· σβεννυμένους δὲ καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀναζωπυρεῖν νύκτωρ καθάπερ τοὺς ἄνθρακας. τὰς γὰρ ἀνατολὰς καὶ τὰς δύσεις ἐξάψεις εἶναι καὶ σβέσεις.

1n ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2

I.24.1n.2

Τοὺς δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν πλοίων φαινομένους οἷον ἀστέρας, οὓς καὶ Διοσκούρους καλοῦσί τινες, νεφέλια εἶναι, κατὰ τὴν ποιὰν κίνησιν παραλάμποντα.

1o ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 1

I.24.1o.1

Ἡρακλείδης καὶ οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι ἕκαστον τῶν ἀστέρων κόσμον ὑπάρχειν, γῆν περιέχοντα ⟨καὶ⟩ ἀέρα ἐν τῷ ἀπείρῳ αἰθέρι. Ταῦτα δὲ τὰ δόγματα ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς φέρεσθαι, κοσμοποιοῦσι γὰρ ἕκαστον τῶν ἀστέρων.

1o ⟨Ἀετίου⟩ · 2

I.24.1o.2

Ἐπίκουρος οὐδὲν ἀπογινώσκει τούτων, ἐχόμενος τοῦ ἐνδεχομένου.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 24

p. 569

1n ⟨Aëtius⟩: Xenophanes’ rekindled clouds

I.24.1n.1

Xenophanes held that the stars are formed from clouds set on fire. Extinguished each day, they are rekindled at night like coals; for their risings and settings are kindlings and extinctions.⁷²⁵

1n ⟨Aëtius⟩: Lights on ships

I.24.1n.2

The starlike lights that appear on ships, which some also call the Dioscuri, are little clouds that flash according to the particular character of their motion.⁷²⁶

1o ⟨Aëtius⟩: Each star a world

I.24.1o.1

Heraclides and the Pythagoreans held that each star is a world, containing earth ⟨and⟩ air in the boundless aether. These doctrines are also reported in the Orphic writings, for they make each star into a world.⁷²⁷

1o ⟨Aëtius⟩: Epicurus leaves possibilities open

I.24.1o.2

Epicurus rules out none of these accounts, keeping to what is possible.⁷²⁸

725.This account explains disappearance and reappearance through the extinction and renewal of fire. The translation retains its contrast with accounts in which the same luminous bodies continue their journeys while hidden from view.

726.The Dioscuri are Castor and Polydeuces, or Pollux, divine twins associated with sailors. Compare Plutarch, Lysander 12.1, for twin lights over a ship. The phenomenon resembles what is now called St. Elmo’s fire, an atmospheric electrical glow; the explanation by little clouds belongs to Xenophanes’ report.

727.“The Orphic writings” is the report’s collective attribution to works circulated under Orpheus’s name. No particular Orphic poem is identified here. “World” renders kosmos, with earth and air specified as contents; it should not be equated without qualification with a modern solar system.

728.This sentence permits possible explanations rather than asserting all the preceding theories as a single doctrine. The scope of “these” is left as compressed in the source.

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.