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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 41 · I.41.4.2–I.41.4.4

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Facing Pages · Branch 424 of 879

Book I Chapter 41 · I.41.4.2–I.41.4.4

Ancient Greek

p. 844

4.2

I.41.4.2

Ταῦτα δὲ κατὰ συγγενικὴν οἰκειότητα κοινωνεῖ ἀλλήλοις, ἐπεί τοι γε τὸ σῶμα ἐδεῖτο τόπου (ἀμήχανον γὰρ ἦν συστῆναι σῶμα ἄνευ τόπου) καὶ μεταβάλλεται φυσικῶς, ἀδύνατον δὲ μεταβολὴν εἶναι ἄνευ χρόνου καὶ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν κινήσεως, οὐδὲ σώματος οἷόν τε σύστασιν εἶναι ἄνευ ἁρμονίας. Ἕνεκα τοίνυν τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος· παραδεχόμενος γὰρ τὰς τοῦ σώματος μεταβολὰς οὐκ ἐᾷ ἀπόλλυσθαι τὸ μεταβαλλόμενον·

4.3

I.41.4.3

Μεταβαλλόμενον δὲ ἀφ᾽ ἑτέρου εἰς ἕτερον μεταπίπτει καὶ τῆς μὲν ἕξεως στερίσκεται, τοῦ δὲ εἶναι σῶμα συστατὸν οὐχί· μεταβληθὲν δὲ εἰς ἕτερον τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου ἕξιν ἔχει. Τὸ γὰρ σῶμα, ᾗ σῶμα, μένει σῶμα· ἡ δὲ ποιὰ διάθεσις οὐ μένει· τὸ σῶμα τοίνυν κατὰ διάθεσιν μεταβάλλεται.

4.4

I.41.4.4

Ἀσώματος τοίνυν ὁ τόπος καὶ ὁ χρόνος καὶ ἡ φυσικὴ κίνησις. Τυγχάνει δὲ ἕκαστον τούτων τῆς ἰδίας ἰδιότητος. Ἰδιότης δὲ τοῦ τόπου περιοχή, χρόνου δὲ διάστημα καὶ ἀριθμός, φύσεως δὲ κίνησις, ἁρμονίας δὲ φιλία, σώματος δὲ μεταβολή· ἰδιότης δὲ ψυχῆς ἡ κατ᾽ οὐσίαν νόησις.

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Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 41

p. 845

4.2 · The conditions of bodily existence

I.41.4.2

These share in one another through a kinship of nature, since body needed a place - for a body could not be constituted without place - and changes naturally. Yet change is impossible without time and movement according to nature, and a body cannot be constituted without harmony. Place therefore exists for the sake of body: by receiving the body’s changes, it prevents what changes from being destroyed.1092

4.3 · Change of condition

I.41.4.3

As it changes, it passes from one thing into another and loses its condition, but not its existence as a constituted body. When it has changed into something else, it has that other thing’s condition. For body, insofar as it is body, remains body; its particular disposition does not remain. Body therefore changes in disposition.1093

4.4 · The distinctive properties

I.41.4.4

Place, time, and natural motion are therefore incorporeal. Each has its own distinctive property. The property of place is enclosure; of time, interval and number; of nature, motion; of harmony, friendship; of body, change. The property of soul is thinking in accordance with its essence.1094

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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.