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 27 · I.27.3–I.27.6

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Facing Pages · Branch 324 of 879

Book I Chapter 27 · I.27.3–I.27.6

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Ancient Greek

p. 644

3 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩

I.27.3

Μητρόδωρος διὰ τὴν πάροδον τοῦ ἡλίου, τοῦτον γὰρ εἶναι τὸν ἡλιακὸν κύκλον.

4 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩

I.27.4

Παρμενίδης τὸ τοῦ πυκνοῦ καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἀραιοῦ μίγμα γαλακτοειδὲς ἀποτελέσαι χρῶμα.

5 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩

I.27.5

Ἀναξαγόρας τὴν σκιὰν τῆς γῆς κατὰ τόδε τὸ μέρος ἵστασθαι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὅταν ὑπὸ τὴν γῆν ὁ ἥλιος γενόμενος μὴ πάντα περιφωτίζῃ.

6 ⟨Ἀετίου⟩

I.27.6

⟨Δημόκριτος⟩ πολλῶν καὶ μικρῶν καὶ συνεχῶν ἀστέρων συμφωτιζομένων ἀλλήλοις διὰ τὴν πύκνωσιν συναυγασμόν.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 27

p. 645

3 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Metrodorus

I.27.3

Metrodorus held that it is due to the sun’s passage, for this is the sun’s circle.⁸³²

4 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Parmenides

I.27.4

Parmenides held that the mixture of the dense and the rarefied produced a milk-like color.⁸³³

5 ⟨Aëtius⟩: Anaxagoras

I.27.5

Anaxagoras held that the earth’s shadow occupies this part of the heavens when the sun, having passed beneath the earth, does not illuminate everything.⁸³⁴

6 ⟨Aëtius⟩: ⟨Democritus⟩

I.27.6

⟨Democritus⟩ held that it is the combined radiance of many small, closely gathered stars, illuminating one another because of their density.⁸³⁵

832.Unlike the preceding Pythagorean account, this brief report does not explicitly call the solar course an earlier one. Its compressed wording is retained.

833.Density and rarefaction also distinguish the materials of the sun and moon in the Parmenides report at I.25.3g, where both bodies are said to have separated from the Milky Way.

834.In the fuller parallel at Aristotle, Meteorology I.8, the earth’s shadow shields certain stars from sunlight, allowing their own light to remain visible. Aristotle attributes that explanation to Anaxagoras and Democritus; this report names Anaxagoras alone. Wachsmuth adopts Heeren’s correction “beneath the earth” with support from Aristotle.

835.The name Democritus is an editorial supplement, supplied by Canter from the parallel Placita III.1; it is absent from the manuscripts cited here as F and P. The angle brackets preserve that distinction.

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.