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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 517 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.11.2–I.49.11.3
Ancient Greek
p. 103011.2
Ἀρχὴ δὲ ἀγένητον· ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ἀνάγκη πᾶν τὸ γιγνόμενον γίγνεσθαι, αὐτὴν δὲ μηδ᾽ ἐξ ἑνός. Εἰ γὰρ ἔκ του ἀρχὴ γίγνοιτο, οὐκ ἂν ἐξ ἀρχῆς γίγνοιτο. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀγένητόν ἐστι, καὶ ἄφθορον αὐτὸ εἶναι ἀνάγκη. Ἀρχῆς γὰρ δὴ ἀπολομένης οὔτε αὐτή ποτε ἔκ του οὔτε ἄλλο ἐξ ἐκείνης γενήσεται, εἴπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς δεῖ τὰ πάντα γίγνεσθαι.
11.3
Οὕτω δὴ κινήσεως μὲν ἀρχὴ τὸ αὐτὸ αὑτὸ κινοῦν· τοῦτο δ᾽ οὖν οὔτ᾽ ἀπόλλυσθαι οὔτε γίγνεσθαι δυνατόν, ἢ πάντα τε οὐρανὸν πᾶσάν τε γένεσιν συμπεσοῦσαν στῆναι καὶ μήποτε αὖθις ἔχειν ὅθεν κινηθέντα γενήσεται.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 103111.2 · A beginning cannot come into being
A beginning does not come into being. For everything that comes into being must come from a beginning, while the beginning itself comes from nothing. For if a beginning came from something, it would not come from a beginning. Since it does not come into being, it must also be indestructible. For if a beginning were destroyed, neither would it ever come into being from anything nor would anything else come from it, if everything must come into being from a beginning.1306
11.3 · The source of all motion
Thus the beginning of motion is what itself moves itself. This can neither perish nor come into being; otherwise the whole heaven and the whole process of becoming would collapse and stand still, and would never again have a source from which they could be set in motion and come into being.1307
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.11.2–I.49.11.3
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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.
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.