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 51 · I.51.2–I.51.4

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Facing Pages · Branch 812 of 879

Book I Chapter 51 · I.51.2–I.51.4

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Ancient Greek

p. 1620

2

I.51.2

⟨Ἀετίου.⟩

Οἱ Στωικοὶ πέντε τὰς εἰδικὰς αἰσθήσεις· ὅρασιν, ἀκοήν, ὄσφρησιν, γεῦσιν, ἁφήν.

3

I.51.3

Ἀριστοτέλης ἕκτην μὲν οὐ λέγει, κοινὴν δὲ αἴσθησιν ⟨τὴν⟩ τῶν συνθέτων εἰδῶν κριτικήν, εἰς ἣν πᾶσαι συμβάλλουσιν αἱ ἁπλαῖ τὰς ἰδίας ἑκάστη φαντασίας, ἐν ᾗ τὸ μεταβατικὸν ἀφ᾽ ἑτέρου πρὸς ἕτερον, οἱονεὶ σχήματος καὶ κινήσεως.

4

I.51.4

⟨Ἀετίου.⟩

Δημόκριτος πλείους εἶναι αἰσθήσεις περὶ τὰ ἄλογα ζῷα καὶ περὶ τοὺς σοφοὺς καὶ περὶ τοὺς θεούς.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 51

p. 1621

2 · Five specific senses

I.51.2

⟨Aëtius.⟩

The Stoics hold that the specific senses are five: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.¹⁹⁶⁷

3 · Common perception

I.51.3

Aristotle does not speak of a sixth sense, but of a common perception, ⟨the faculty⟩ that judges composite forms. To it all the simple senses contribute, each its own impressions; in it resides the capacity to pass from one thing to another, for example between shape and movement.¹⁹⁶⁸

4 · More senses

I.51.4

⟨Aëtius.⟩

Democritus holds that there are more senses in nonrational animals, in the wise, and in the gods.¹⁹⁶⁹

1967.The supplied attribution is printed in Latin and covers excerpts 2-3: Aëtius IV.10.1-2, Diels p. 399. Specific senses translates eidikas; the list distinguishes their separate functions. The different order from the preceding poem is retained.

1968.Common perception coordinates the contributions of the separate senses; it does not mean ordinary practical judgment. The supplied article makes the judging faculty explicit. Compare I.50.5. This shorter report is preserved independently: the apparatus criticizes an earlier editor for combining the two passages.

1969.The editor supplies Aëtius IV.10.4, Diels p. 399. The compressed report says more, without specifying a number or naming additional senses. Its three classes are kept distinct. Compare the report about nonrational animals in I.50.7.

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.