Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Book I Chapter 52 · I.52.16.1–I.52.17.1
Ancient Greek
p. 163616.1
⟨Οἱ⟩ ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου καὶ τῶν μαθηματικῶν κατ᾽ ἀνάκλασιν τῆς ὄψεως. Φέρεσθαι μὲν γὰρ τὴν ὄψιν τεταμένην ὡς ἐπὶ τὸν χαλκόν, ἐντυχοῦσαν δὲ πυκνῷ καὶ λείῳ πληχθεῖσαν ὑποστρέφειν αὐτὴν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτήν, ὁμοῖόν τι πάσχουσαν τῇ ἐκτάσει τῆς χειρὸς καὶ τῇ ἐπὶ τὸν ὦμον ἀντεπιστροφῇ.
16.2
[Δύναται δέ τις πᾶσι τούτοις τοῖς κεφαλαίοις χρῆσθαι ἐπὶ τοῦ πῶς ὁρῶμεν.]
17.1
⟨Ἀετίου.⟩
Σφαῖρος ὁ Στωικὸς ὁρατὸν εἶναι τὸ σκότος, ἐκ γὰρ τῆς ὁράσεως προχεῖσθαί τινα εἰς αὐτὸ αὐγήν.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 52
p. 163716.1 · Reflection of the visual stream
⟨The followers⟩ of Pythagoras and of the mathematicians explain it through reflection of the visual stream. For the visual stream travels taut toward the bronze; on encountering a dense, smooth surface it is struck and turns back upon itself, undergoing something like the extension of the hand and its return toward the shoulder.1991
16.2 · A rejected cross-reference
[One may also use all these summaries in considering how we see.]1992
17.1 · Seeing darkness
⟨Aëtius.⟩
Sphaerus the Stoic holds that darkness is visible, since a certain radiance pours into it from sight.1993
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 52 · I.52.16.1–I.52.17.1
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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.