Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 717 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.58.10–I.49.58.11
Ancient Greek
p. 143058.10
Ἀλλὰ μέντοι, ὦ Σιμμία, οὐχ ἡ Γλαύκου τέχνη γέ μοι δοκεῖ εἶναι διηγήσασθαι ἅ τε ἐστίν· ὡς μέντοι ἀληθῆ, χαλεπώτερόν μοι φαίνεται ἢ κατὰ τὴν Γλαύκου τέχνην, καὶ ἅμα μὲν ἐγὼ ἴσως οὐδ᾽ ἂν οἷός τε εἴην, ἅμα δέ, εἰ καὶ ἠπιστάμην, ὁ βίος μοι δοκεῖ ὁ ἐμός, ὦ Σιμμία, τῷ μήκει οὐκ ἐξαρκεῖν. Τὴν μέντοι ἰδέαν τῆς γῆς, οἵαν πέπεισμαι εἶναι, καὶ τοὺς τόπους αὐτῆς οὐδέν με λέγειν κωλύει.
Ἀλλ᾽, ἔφη ὁ Σιμμίας, καὶ ταῦτα ἀρκεῖ.
58.11
Πέπεισμαι τοίνυν, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς, ἐγώ, ὡς πρῶτον μὲν γῆ ἐστιν ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ περιφερὴς οὖσα, μηδὲν αὐτῇ δεῖν μήτε ἀέρος πρὸς τὸ μὴ πεσεῖν μήτε ἄλλης ἀνάγκης μηδεμιᾶς τοιαύτης, ἀλλ᾽ ἱκανὴν εἶναι αὐτὴν ἴσχειν τὴν ὁμοιότητα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ αὐτοῦ αὐτῷ πάντῃ καὶ τῆς γῆς αὐτῆς τὴν ⟨ἰσορροπίαν⟩·
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 143158.10 · Telling the account and proving it true
“Yet, Simmias, to relate what these things are does not seem to me to require Glaucus’s skill. But to show that they are true seems to me beyond even Glaucus’s skill. For one thing, perhaps I would not be capable of it; for another, even if I knew how, my own life, Simmias, would not, I think, suffice for its length. Still, nothing prevents me from describing the form of the earth as I am convinced it is, and its regions.”
“That will suffice,” Simmias said.1714
58.11 · The earth at the center
“Well then,” he said, “I am convinced, first, that the earth is round and lies in the center of the heavens. It has no need of air to keep it from falling, nor of any other such constraint. The uniformity of the heavens with themselves in every direction, together with the earth’s own ⟨equilibrium⟩, is sufficient to hold it in place.”1715
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.58.10–I.49.58.11
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.