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 28 · I.28.2.1–I.28.2.3

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Facing Pages · Branch 330 of 879

Book I Chapter 28 · I.28.2.1–I.28.2.3

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Ancient Greek

p. 656

2 Ἀρριανοῦ · 1

I.28.2.1

Ἀρριανός φησιν· “Ὅσα δὲ μένει ἐπὶ χρόνον τὰ μέν πως ξυμπεριφερόμενα τῷ οὐρανῷ, τὰ δὲ ἤδη τινὰ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν πλάνην πλανώμενα, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ κομῆται ἀστέρες καὶ λαμπάδες καὶ πωγωνίαι καὶ πίθοι καὶ δοκίδες, καθ᾽ ὁμοιότητα ἑκάστῃ ἰδέᾳ τῆς ἐπωνυμίας λαχόντα.”

2 Ἀρριανοῦ · 2

I.28.2.2

* * “Τεκμήριον δὲ ὅτι μὴ παραυτίκα διαφθείρεται, ὡς εἴ γε ἐν τῷ ἀέρι ξυνίσταντο, ταχεῖα ἂν ἐγίγνετο αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ ψυχρῷ ἡ σβέσις. Ὅτι δὲ πρόσκαιρά ἐστιν, ἡ φθορὰ αὐτῶν ἐδήλωσε,

2 Ἀρριανοῦ · 3

I.28.2.3

καὶ ὅτι πρὸς ἄρκτοις μᾶλλόν τι ἢ ἄλλῃ χώρᾳ ξυνίσταται τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῦτο ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν φέρει, ἔνθα παχύς τε ὁ ἀὴρ [καὶ] μᾶλλον καὶ ξύστασις οὐ ῥᾳδία, φορηθῆναι πρὸς τὴν οὖ.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 28

p. 657

2 Arrian: Persistent appearances

I.28.2.1

Arrian says: “Those which remain for a time, some carried along in a fashion with the heavens, others wandering on a course of their own, are comets, torches, bearded stars, jars, and beams, each receiving its name from a resemblance in shape.”⁸⁵⁰

2 Arrian: Duration and destruction

I.28.2.2

[Gap in the text.] “Evidence is the fact that they do not perish at once: if they formed in the air, they would be quickly extinguished in its cold. That they are temporary is shown by their destruction.⁸⁵¹

2 Arrian: A damaged argument about the north

I.28.2.3

And the fact that they form more toward the north than in another region of the heavens also bears upon this: there the air is thicker and formation is not easy; to be carried toward the ... [text corrupt].⁸⁵²

850.The author-heading “Arrian” is printed without editorial brackets; Wachsmuth records it in the margin of manuscript P. The closing Greek construction is uneven and has attracted several corrections; its clear general sense is that resemblance supplies each name. The definitions return at the end of the extract.

851.Wachsmuth marks a gap before “Evidence.” The precise claim for which the first sentence offers evidence is therefore missing. Its surviving argument distinguishes lasting for a time from being permanent.

852.The connection of the northern location to the argument is uncertain. The printed ending, phorēthēnai pros tēn ou, cannot be construed as a complete sentence. Wachsmuth discusses, but does not print, a conjecture involving “earth”; the translation does not silently adopt it. The rejected kai, “and,” remains bracketed on the Greek side.

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.