Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 386 of 879
Book I Chapter 40 · I.40.1.8–I.40.1.10
Ancient Greek
p. 7688
Μετὰ δὲ τὴν αἰθέριον καὶ θείαν φύσιν, ἥντινα τεταγμένην ἀποφαίνομεν, ἔτι δὲ ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον καὶ ἀπαθῆ, συνεχής ἐστιν ἡ δι᾽ ὅλων παθητή τε καὶ τρεπτή, καὶ τὸ σύμπαν εἰπεῖν, φθαρτή τε καὶ ἐπίκηρος.
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Ταύτης δὲ αὐτῆς πρώτη ἐστὶν ἡ λεπτομερὴς καὶ φλογώδης οὐσία, ὑπὸ τῆς αἰθερίου πυρουμένη διὰ τὸ μέγεθος αὐτῆς καὶ τὴν ὀξύτητα τῆς κινήσεως· ἐν δὲ τῇ πυρώδει καὶ τῇ ἀτάκτῳ λεγομένῃ τὰ σέλα διάττει καὶ φλόγες ἀκοντίζονται καὶ δοκίδες τε καὶ βόθυνοι καὶ κομῆται λεγόμενοι στηρίζονταί τε καὶ σβέννυνται πολλάκις.
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Ἑξῆς δὲ ταύτης ὁ ἀὴρ ὑποκέχυται, ζοφερὸς ὢν καὶ παγετώδης τὴν φύσιν, ὑπὸ ⟨δ᾽⟩ ἐκείνης λαμπόμενος ἅμα καὶ καιόμενος λαμπρότερός τε γίνεται καὶ ἀλεεινός. Ἐν δὲ τούτῳ τῆς παθητῆς ὄντι καὶ αὐτῷ δυνάμεως ⟨καὶ⟩ παντοδαπῶς ἀλλοιουμένῳ νέφη συνίστανται καὶ ὄμβροι καταράττουσι χιόνες τε καὶ πάχναι καὶ χάλαζαι πνοιαί τε ἀνέμων καὶ τυφώνων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ βρονταὶ καὶ ἀστραπαὶ καὶ πτώσεις κεραυνῶν μυρίων τε γνόφων συμπληγάδες.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 40
p. 7698 · The changeable region
Immediately after the ethereal and divine nature, which we declare to be ordered, and also unchanging, unalterable, and unaffected, comes the nature that is throughout subject to affection and change and, to speak generally, to destruction and death.995
9 · The fiery layer
First within this nature is the substance of fine particles and flame, kindled by the ethereal substance because of the latter’s magnitude and the swiftness of its motion. In this substance, called fiery and disorderly, lights shoot across, flames are hurled out, and the appearances called beams, pits, and comets repeatedly take up a position and are extinguished.996
10 · Air and weather
Beneath this substance air is spread out. It is naturally dark and icy, ⟨but⟩, illuminated and heated by that substance, it becomes brighter and warm. In air, which itself belongs to the nature subject to affection ⟨and⟩ is altered in every way, clouds form, rains pour down, and there are snows, frosts, hail, blasts of winds and whirlwinds, as well as thunder, lightning, falling thunderbolts, and the collision of countless masses of darkness.997
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 40 · I.40.1.8–I.40.1.10
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.
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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.