Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

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Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 42 · I.42.13.heading–I.42.13.1

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Book I Chapter 42 · I.42.13.heading–I.42.13.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 894

13

I.42.13.heading

⟨Διατί τὰ ἑπταμηνιαῖα γόνιμα.⟩

13 · (3) ⟨Ἀετίου⟩

I.42.13.1

Οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην καὶ Ἱπποκράτην φασίν, ἐὰν μὲν ἐκπληρωθῇ ἡ μήτρα ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ μησί, τότε προκύπτειν καὶ γεννᾶσθαι γόνιμα· ἐὰν δὲ προκύψῃ μέν, μὴ τρέφηται δέ, ἀσθενήσαντος [δὲ] τοῦ ὀμφαλοῦ διὰ τὸ ἐπίπονον αὐτῷ γενέσθαι τὸ ἔμβρυον, ἄτροφον εἶναι. Ἐὰν δὲ μείνῃ τοὺς ἐννέα μῆνας ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ, προκύψαν τότε ὁλόκληρόν ἐστι.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 42

p. 895

13 · Restored topic heading

I.42.13.heading

⟨Why infants born at seven months are viable.⟩¹¹⁵²

13 · (3) ⟨Aëtius⟩: seven and nine months

I.42.13.1

Those associated with Aristotle and Hippocrates say that, if the womb is filled in the seven months, the offspring then emerges and is born viable.¹¹⁵³ But if it emerges without being nourished, the umbilical cord having [also] grown weak because the embryo has become a strain upon it, it lacks nourishment.¹¹⁵⁴ If, however, it remains in the womb for the nine months, it is complete when it then emerges.¹¹⁵⁵

1152.Gonima here concerns the capacity of the offspring to live or develop, rather than its later fertility. The following passage is the third surviving excerpt of the chapter.

1153.Wachsmuth supplies the source attribution Aëtius V.18.4 (Diels, p. 428); the bracketed Latin source-heading is translated into Greek and English. “Those associated with” renders hoi peri: this is a reported position, not a quotation directly identified with a work by either named author. The printed “womb” is Canter’s correction from the parallel Placita text for the manuscripts’ “day.”

1154.Omphalos, literally “navel,” here denotes the umbilical connection that nourishes the embryo. “Lacks nourishment” follows atrophon and retains the repetition of “without being nourished.” The account’s sequence of emergence and failed nourishment is compressed. Wachsmuth records expansions proposed from the parallel text but does not print them; none is silently introduced here. The bracketed “also” represents the rejected particle de.

1155.“Complete” translates holoklēron, contrasting the final condition with deficient nourishment. The seven- and nine-month claims belong to this ancient physiological account. Wachsmuth does not add the separate excerpt headed “Euryphon the physician” that Diels proposed inserting here; the present translation follows the printed chapter’s ending.

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.