Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 45 of 879
Book I Chapter 1 · I.1.36c
Ancient Greek
p. 8636 Ἀριστοτέλους πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον (γʹ)
Οὕτως ὑποληπτέον καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς μείζονος πόλεως, λέγω δὲ τοῦ κόσμου. Νόμος μὲν γὰρ ἡμῖν ἰσοκλινὴς ὁ θεός, οὐδεμίαν ἐπιδεχόμενος διόρθωσιν ἢ μετάθεσιν, κρείττων δ’, οἶμαι, καὶ βεβαιότερος τῶν ἐν τοῖς κύρβεσιν ἀναγεγραμμένων. Ἡγουμένου δὲ ἀκινήτως αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐμμελῶς ὁ σύμπας οἰκονομεῖται δι’ αὐτοῦ διάκοσμος οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ γῆς, μεμερισμένος κατὰ τὰς φύσεις πάσας ὁμοίως διὰ τῶν οἰκείων σπερμάτων εἰς τὰ φυτὰ καὶ ζῷα κατὰ γένη τε καὶ εἴδη.
Καὶ γὰρ ἄμπελοι καὶ φοίνικες καὶ περσέαι
συκαῖ τε γλυκεραὶ καὶ ἐλαῖαι,ὥς φησιν ὁ ποιητής, τά τε ἄκαρπα μέν, ἄλλας δὲ παρεχόμενα χρείας, πλάτανοι καὶ πεῦκαι καὶ πύξοι, [κλῶνές τε]
κλήθρη τ’ αἴγειρός τε καὶ εὐώδης κυπάρισσος,Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 1
p. 8736 Aristotle, from the letter to Alexander (3)
We must think in the same way of the greater city, by which I mean the cosmos. For us God is an evenly balanced law, admitting neither correction nor alteration, superior and more secure, I think, than the laws inscribed on tablets. Under his unmoving and harmonious rule, the entire order of heaven and earth is governed through him, distributed throughout all natures by their proper seeds into plants and animals according to their kinds and species.
For vines, palms, and persea trees,
“sweet fig trees and olives,”
as the poet says, and trees that bear no fruit but serve other uses—planes, pines, and box trees, [and branches]
“alder, poplar, and fragrant cypress”—87
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 1 · I.1.36c
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.
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.