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 50 · I.50.23–I.50.24.2

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Book I Chapter 50 · I.50.23–I.50.24.2

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Ancient Greek

p. 1596

23

I.50.23

Οἱ Περιπατητικοὶ παρὰ τὰς δυνάμεις τῶν αἰσθητηρίων.

24.1

I.50.24.1

Οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι φύσει τὰ αἰσθητά, Λεύκιππος δέ, Δημόκριτος καὶ Διογένης νόμῳ, τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶ δόξῃ καὶ πάθει τοῖς ἡμετέροις·

24.2

I.50.24.2

μηδὲν δ᾽ εἶναι ἀληθὲς μηδὲ καταληπτὸν ἐκτὸς τῶν πρώτων στοιχείων, ἀτόμων καὶ κενοῦ· ταῦτα γὰρ εἶναι μόνα φύσει, τὰ δ᾽ ἐκ τούτων, θέσει καὶ τάξει καὶ σχήματι διαφέροντα ἀλλήλων, συμβεβηκότα.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 50

p. 1597

23 · The faculties of the sense organs

I.50.23

The Peripatetics hold that this occurs through the faculties of the sense organs.¹⁹³⁵

24.1 · Nature and convention

I.50.24.1

Others hold that perceptible things exist by nature; Leucippus, Democritus, and Diogenes that they exist by convention, that is, through our own opinion and affection.¹⁹³⁶

24.2 · Atoms, void, and compounds

I.50.24.2

Nothing is true or apprehensible except the primary elements, atoms and void. For these alone exist by nature, while the things composed of them, differing from one another in position, arrangement, and shape, are incidental.¹⁹³⁷

1935.This occurs supplies the activity stated in excerpt 22, the particular senses’ perception of their appropriate objects. The brief contrast shifts the explanation from proportional passages to the capacities belonging to the organs themselves.

1936.Nomōi is convention, here immediately explained through our opinion and what we undergo. The English retains this explanatory gloss rather than treating convention solely as an agreed social rule. Perceptible things is the printed expression, though the contrast concerns the status of what appears to our senses.

1937.The claim continues the account attributed to the three named thinkers in excerpt 24.1. Position, arrangement, and shape are distinct terms in the source and remain distinct here. Symbebēkota is rendered incidental, retaining the contrast with what exists by nature rather than supplying an unprinted account of compounds as unreal.

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.