Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 403 of 879
Book I Chapter 40 · I.40.1.55–I.40.1.56
Ancient Greek
p. 80255
Πολλαί τε ἀμπώτεις λέγονται καὶ κυμάτων ἄρσεις συμπεριοδεύειν ἀεὶ τῇ σελήνῃ κατά τινας ὡρισμένους καιρούς. Ὡς δὲ τὸ πᾶν εἰπεῖν, τῶν στοιχείων κεκραμένων ἀλλήλοις ἐν ἀέρι τε καὶ γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς αἱ τῶν παθῶν ὁμοιότητες συνίστανται, τοῖς μὲν ἐπὶ μέρους φθορὰς καὶ γενέσεις φέρουσαι, τὸ δὲ σύμπαν ἀγένητόν τε καὶ ἀνώλεθρον φυλάττουσαι.
56
⟨κεφ. 5⟩ Καίτοι γέ τις ἐθαύμαζε, πῶς ποτε ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων ἀρχῶν συνεστηκὼς ὁ κόσμος, λέγω δὲ ξηρῶν τε καὶ ὑγρῶν, ψυχρῶν τε καὶ θερμῶν, οὐ πάλαι διέφθαρται καὶ ἀπόλωλεν· ὡς κἂν εἰ πόλιν τινὲς θαυμάζοιεν, ὅπως διαμένει συνεστηκυῖα ἐκ τῶν ἐναντιωτάτων ἐθνῶν, πενήτων λέγω καὶ πλουσίων, νέων γερόντων, ἀσθενῶν ἰσχυρῶν, πονηρῶν χρηστῶν. Ἀγνοοῦσι δὲ ὅτι τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ πολιτικῆς ὁμονοίας τὸ θαυμασιώτατον, λέγω δὲ τὸ μίαν ἐκ πολλῶν καὶ ὁμοίαν ἐξ ἀνομοίων ἀποτελεῖν διάθεσιν, ὑποδεχομένην πᾶσαν καὶ φύσιν καὶ τύχην.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 40
p. 80355 · Tides and the enduring whole
Many ebbings and risings of the waves are said continually to follow the moon’s circuit at certain fixed times. To state the matter generally, because the elements are mingled with one another in air, earth, and sea, similar disturbances naturally occur, bringing destruction and generation to particular things while preserving the whole as ungenerated and indestructible.1039
56 · The city as a comparison
⟨Chapter 5⟩ Yet someone might wonder how the cosmos, composed of contrary principles, dry and moist, cold and hot, has not long since been destroyed and perished. It would be as if people wondered how a city endures when composed of the most opposed groups: poor and rich, young and old, weak and strong, bad and good. They fail to understand that this is the most remarkable feature of civic concord: it produces one disposition from many, and a common disposition from unlike ones, embracing every nature and condition of fortune.1040
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 40 · I.40.1.55–I.40.1.56
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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.