Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 718 of 879
Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.58.12–I.49.58.14
Ancient Greek
p. 143258.12
Ἰσόρροπον γὰρ πρᾶγμα ὁμοίου τινὸς ἐν μέσῳ τεθὲν οὐχ ἕξει μᾶλλον οὐδ᾽ ἧττον οὐδαμόσε κλιθῆναι, ὁμοίως δ᾽ ἔχον ἀκλινὲς μένει. Πρῶτον μέν, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς, τοῦτο πέπεισμαι.
Καὶ ὀρθῶς γε, ἔφη ὁ Σιμμίας.
58.13
Ἔτι τοίνυν, ἔφη, πάμμεγά τι εἶναι αὐτό· καὶ ἡμᾶς οἰκεῖν τοὺς μέχρι Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν ἀπὸ Φάσιδος ἐν μικρῷ τινι μορίῳ, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τέλμα μύρμηκας ἢ βατράχους, περὶ τὴν θάλατταν οἰκοῦντας, καὶ ἄλλους ἄλλοθι πολλοὺς ἐν πολλοῖς τοιούτοις τόποις οἰκεῖν.
58.14
Εἶναι γὰρ πανταχῇ περὶ τὴν γῆν πολλὰ κοῖλα καὶ παντοδαπὰ καὶ τὰς ἰδέας καὶ τὰ μεγέθη, εἰς ἃ ξυνερρυηκέναι τό τε ὕδωρ καὶ τὴν ὁμίχλην καὶ τὸν ἀέρα· αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν γῆν καθαρὰν ἐν καθαρῷ κεῖσθαι τῷ οὐρανῷ, ἐν ᾧπέρ ἐστι τὰ ἄστρα, ὃν δὴ αἰθέρα ὀνομάζειν τοὺς πολλοὺς τῶν περὶ ταῦτ᾽ εἰωθότων λέγειν· οὗ δὴ ὑποστάθμην ταῦτα εἶναι καὶ ξυρρεῖν ἀεὶ εἰς τὰ κοῖλα τῆς γῆς.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 49
p. 143358.12 · Equal balance prevents a fall
“For an evenly balanced thing placed in the center of something uniform will have no greater or lesser tendency to incline in any direction. Being equally situated, it remains without tilting. This,” he said, “is my first conviction.”
“And rightly so,” Simmias said.1716
58.13 · Like ants or frogs at a pond
“Furthermore,” he said, “it is something immensely large. We who live from the Phasis as far as the Pillars of Heracles inhabit only a small part, dwelling around the sea like ants or frogs at a pond; and many other people live elsewhere in many such places.”1717
58.14 · Hollows below the pure earth
“For everywhere around the earth there are many hollows, of every sort in shape and size, into which water, mist, and air have flowed together. But the earth itself lies pure in the pure heaven where the stars are, which most people accustomed to discuss these matters call aether. These other things are its sediment and continually flow together into the earth’s hollows.”1718
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 49 · I.49.58.12–I.49.58.14
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.