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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

Stobaeus, Volume I

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 31 · I.31.9.1–I.31.9.2

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Book I Chapter 31 · I.31.9.1–I.31.9.2

Ancient Greek

p. 730

9 Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Τιμαίου · 1

I.31.9.1

Τὸ πυρὶ μεμιγμένον ὕδωρ, ὅσον λεπτόν, ὑγρόν τε διὰ τὴν κίνησιν καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν ἣν κυλινδούμενον ἐπὶ γῆς ὑγρὸν λέγεται, μαλακόν τε αὐτῷ τὰς βάσεις ἧττον ἑδραίας οὔσας ἢ τὰς γῆς ὑπείκειν·

9 Πλάτωνος ἐκ τοῦ Τιμαίου · 2

I.31.9.2

τοῦτο ὅταν πυρὸς ἀποχωρισθὲν ἀέρος τε μονωθῇ, γέγονε μὲν ὁμαλώτερον, ξυνέωσται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐξιόντων εἰς αὑτό, παγέν τε οὕτως τὸ μὲν ὑπὲρ γῆς μάλιστα παθὸν τοιαῦτα χάλαζα, τὸ δ᾽ ἐπὶ γῆς κρύσταλλος· τὸ δὲ ἧττον ἡμιπαγές τε ὂν ἔτι, τὸ μὲν ὑπὲρ γῆς αὖ χιών, τὸ δ᾽ ἐπὶ γῆς ξυμπαγὲν ἐκ δρόσου γενόμενον πάχνη λέγεται.

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Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 31

p. 731

9 Plato, from the Timaeus: Fluid and soft

I.31.9.1

Of water mixed with fire, whatever is fine is called fluid because of its motion and the course it takes as it rolls over the earth; and it is called soft because its bases, being less stable than those of earth, give way.934

9 Plato: Hail, ice, snow, and frost

I.31.9.2

When this water is separated from fire and isolated from air, it becomes more uniform and is pressed in upon itself by the constituents that leave it. When it freezes in this way, what undergoes these changes most fully above the earth is hail; on the earth it is ice. What undergoes them less fully and is still half-frozen is called snow when above the earth, and frost when it forms from dew and congeals on the earth.935

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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.