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.50.31–I.50.33

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Book I Chapter 50 · I.50.31–I.50.33

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Ancient Greek

p. 1602

31

I.50.31

⟨Ἀετίου.⟩

Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὰς ἡδονὰς γίνεσθαι τοῖς μὲν ὁμοίοις [τῶν ὁμοίων], κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἐλλεῖπον πρὸς τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν, ὥστε τῷ ἐλλείποντι ἡ ὄρεξις τοῦ ὁμοίου· τὰς δ᾽ ἀλγηδόνας τοῖς ἐναντίοις, ἠλλοτριῶσθαι γὰρ πρὸς ἄλληλα ὅσα διαφέρει κατά τε τὴν σύγκρισιν καὶ τὴν τῶν στοιχείων κρᾶσιν.

32

I.50.32

Ἀναξαγόρας πᾶσαν αἴσθησιν μετὰ πόνου.

33

I.50.33

Οἱ ἄλλοι ἐπιγίγνεσθαι ἤτοι ἡδονὴν ἢ πόνον οὐδὲ συμπεφυκέναι.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 50

p. 1603

31 · Pleasure through likeness and replenishment

I.50.31

⟨Aëtius.⟩

Empedocles holds that pleasures arise with like things [of like things] and, where something is deficient, in relation to replenishment, so that what is deficient has an appetite for what is like it. Pains arise with opposites; for things differing in composition and in the blending of their elements are alien to one another.¹⁹⁴⁴

32 · Perception accompanied by pain

I.50.32

Anaxagoras holds that every perception is accompanied by pain.¹⁹⁴⁵

33 · Pleasure or pain added afterward

I.50.33

Others hold that either pleasure or pain supervenes and is not inherent from the outset.¹⁹⁴⁶

1944.The supplied attribution covers excerpts 31-35: Aëtius IV.9.15-20, Diels p. 398 and following, as printed. The rejected tōn homoiōn, of like things, remains bracketed. The opening syntax is compressed and provisionally translated. Synkrisis is composition or combination; krasis is blending. The account links affinity with pleasure and unlike composition with pain.

1945.Ponos can denote pain, distress, or exertion. Pain fits the contrast with pleasure in the adjoining reports. The sentence asserts accompaniment, not that pain and perception are identical.

1946.Epigignesthai means to come upon or be added afterward; sympephykenai suggests having grown together by nature. The printed correction distinguishes an added accompaniment from an inseparable original feature. The unnamed others contrast with Anaxagoras in excerpt 32.

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.