Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

Explore the Lexicon

Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 29 · I.29.2.10–I.29.2.12

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Ancient Greek Page · Branch 344 of 879

Book I Chapter 29 · I.29.2.10–I.29.2.12

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 684

2 Ἀρριανοῦ · 10

I.29.2.10

Κεραυνῶν δὲ πολλαὶ ἰδέαι τε καὶ ὀνόματά εἰσιν. Οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν ψολόεντες, οἱ δὲ ἀργῆτες κλῄζονται, σκηπτοί τε ὅσοι κατασκήπτουσι, καὶ αἰγίδες ὅσοι ἐν συστροφῇ ἀέρος καταφέρονται, ἕλικες δὲ ὅσοι ἐς ἑλικοειδῆ γραμμὴν διάττουσι.

2 Ἀρριανοῦ · 11

I.29.2.11

Καὶ δὴ ὅσοι μὲν μὴ πάντῃ ὀξέως ἐκπεσόντες ὕλῃ ἐνέτυχον καυσίμῳ, ἔκαυσάν τε αὐτὴν ὑπὸ τῇ διατριβῇ καὶ αὐτοὶ κατεσβέσθησαν τῷ ἔργῳ· ὅσοι δὲ ξὺν πολλῷ τῷ τάχει κατέσκηψαν, οὗτοι πρὶν ἐκκαῦσαι διῇξαν ὥστε ἡμίπυρα ἐστὶν ἃ ὑπολελεῖφθαι ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν· οἱ δὲ καὶ αἰθαλώσαντες μόνον διῆλθον.

2 Ἀρριανοῦ · 12

I.29.2.12

Οἱ δὲ ἔτι καὶ τῶνδε ὀξύτεροι οὐδὲ ἓν ἐξεργάσασθαι ἔφθασαν, ἀλλὰ ἀραιᾷ μὲν ὕλῃ εἰ καὶ πάνυ καυσίμῳ ἐντυχόντες διεχώρησαν μόνον· ἀντιτύπῳ δὲ εἰ πελάσειαν ἐνσχεθέντες κατειργάσαντό τε αὐτὴν καὶ διέφθειραν· ὥστε κυτίδος μὲν ξύλου μαλθακοῦ ἁψάμενοι διῇξαν, ἀπαθῆ ἀπολιπόντες· τὸ δὲ χρυσίον ἔτηξαν τὸ ἐνόν, ὅτι ἐσχέθησαν ἐν τῷ χρυσίῳ.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 29

p. 685

2 Arrian: Names of thunderbolts

I.29.2.10

There are many forms and names of thunderbolts. Some are called smoky, others bright; those that strike down are called striking bolts, those that descend in a whirling mass of air are called aegides, and those that dart along a spiral line are called spirals.⁸⁷⁹

2 Arrian: Speed and burning

I.29.2.11

Those which burst out without great speed and encounter combustible material burn it because they linger, and are themselves extinguished in the process. Those which strike with great speed pass through before burning it up, so that some things are left half burned by them; others pass through after merely blackening things with soot.⁸⁸⁰

2 Arrian: The box and its gold

I.29.2.12

Those still swifter than these have no time to produce any effect at all: when they encounter porous material, even if it is highly combustible, they merely pass through it. But if they meet resistant material, they are held within it, act upon it, and destroy it. Thus, when they struck a box of soft wood, they passed through and left it unharmed, but melted the gold inside because they were detained in the gold.⁸⁸¹

879.Aegides is retained as a technical name and defined by the passage itself. The text here reads “air,” aeros, following Meineke’s correction; the manuscripts have “fire,” puros. The later distinction between smoky and bright bolts returns to the effects they leave behind.

880.“Are themselves extinguished” follows Wachsmuth’s printed katesbesthēsan, his correction of the manuscripts’ kateschethēsan, “were held.” The distinction matters because the sentence describes what happens to the bolt itself during combustion.

881.The governing contrast is between porous and resistant material. The explanation attributes the melting to the bolt’s being delayed inside the gold; it does not formulate a theory of electrical conductivity. Compare the shield example in the preceding report of Aristotle.

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.