Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

John Stobaeus

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 52 · I.52.3–I.52.6

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Book I Chapter 52 · I.52.3–I.52.6

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Ancient Greek

p. 1628

3

I.52.3

Στράτων χρώματά φησιν ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων φέρεσθαι συγχρῷζοντ᾽ αὐτοῖς τὸν μεταξὺ ἀέρα.

4

I.52.4

Ἀρίσταρχος σχήματα συνδιατυποῦντά πως αὐτοῖς τὸν ἀέρα.

5

I.52.5

Ἵππαρχος ἀφ᾽ ἑκατέρου φησὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀποτεινομένας ⟨ἀκτῖνας⟩ τοῖς πέρασιν αὐτῶν, οἱονεὶ χειρῶν ἐπαφαῖς, περικαθαπτούσας τοῖς ἐκτὸς σώμασι τὴν ἀντίληψιν αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ ὁρατικὸν ἀναδιδόναι.

6

I.52.6

Ἔνιοι καὶ Πυθαγόραν τῇ δόξῃ ταύτῃ συνεπιγράφουσιν, ἅτε δὴ βεβαιωτὴν τῶν μαθημάτων· καὶ πρὸς τούτῳ Παρμενίδην ἐμφαίνοντα τοῦτο διὰ τῶν ποιημάτων.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 52

p. 1629

3 · The air takes on colors

I.52.3

Strato says that colors travel from bodies, coloring the intervening air to match them.¹⁹⁷⁷

4 · The air takes on shapes

I.52.4

Aristarchus holds that shapes somehow impress a corresponding form on the air.¹⁹⁷⁸

5 · Rays like reaching hands

I.52.5

Hipparchus says that ⟨rays⟩ extending from each eye grasp external bodies with their extremities, as though by the touch of hands, and transmit the apprehension of those bodies to the visual faculty.¹⁹⁷⁹

6 · Pythagoras and Parmenides

I.52.6

Some also enroll Pythagoras among the adherents of this view, as an establisher of the mathematical sciences; and, in addition, Parmenides, who indicates it in his poems.¹⁹⁸⁰

1977.The air between object and perceiver participates in the explanation. Synchrōizein means to color alike or give a corresponding color; the English takes autois as referring to the bodies. The report describes transmission of color, without supplying an account of the eye itself.

1978.The statement is elliptical, continuing the preceding discussion. Pōs, somehow, marks the report’s qualification. The name follows the corrected main text; no identification with a particular otherwise known Aristarchus is imposed by this excerpt.

1979.The noun rays is supplied in the edition. The simile treats vision as reaching out and touching, then conveying the resulting apprehension back to the perceiver. Both eyes and the extremities of the rays belong to the printed explanation.

1980.The attribution is explicitly qualified by some. Bebaiōtēs suggests someone who establishes or gives firm support to a discipline; it need not mean its sole inventor. The excerpt reports an interpretation of Parmenides’ poetry without quoting the relevant verses.

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.