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Book I Chapter 52 · I.52.20.3–I.52.20.4
Ancient Greek
p. 164620.3
Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἴσα ἀναίσθητά τε δὴ διαφανῆ λέγομεν, τὰ δὲ μείζω καὶ ἐλάττω, τὰ μὲν συγκρίνοντα, τὰ δὲ διακρίνοντα αὐτὴν τοῖς περὶ τὴν σάρκα θερμοῖς καὶ ψυχροῖς καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὴν γλῶτταν στρυφνοῖς καὶ ὅσα θερμαντικὰ ὄντα δριμέα ἐκαλέσαμεν ἀδελφὰ εἶναι, ταῦτα εἴη ἂν τά τε λευκὰ καὶ μέλανα, ἐκείνων παθήματα γεγονότα ἐν ἄλλῳ γένει ταὐτά, φανταζόμενα δὲ ἄλλα διὰ ταύτας αἰτίας.
20.4
Οὕτως οὖν αὐτὰ προσρητέον· τὸ μὲν διακριτικὸν τῆς ὄψεως λευκόν, τὸ δ᾽ ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ μέλαν, τὴν δὲ ὀξυτέραν φορὰν καὶ γένους πυρὸς ἑτέρου προσπίπτουσαν καὶ διακρίνουσαν τὴν ὄψιν μέχρι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, αὐτάς τε τῶν ὀμμάτων τὰς διεξόδους βίᾳ διωθοῦσαν, πῦρ μὲν ἀθρόον καὶ ὕδωρ, ὃ δάκρυον καλοῦμεν, ἐκεῖθεν ἐκχέουσαν, αὐτὴν δὲ οὖσαν πῦρ, ἐξ ἐναντίας ἀπαντῶσαν,
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 52
p. 164720.3 · Transparency, contraction, and expansion
“The equal particles we call imperceptible and transparent. The larger and smaller ones, the former contracting the visual stream and the latter expanding it, are akin to the hot and cold acting on flesh, and to the astringent acting on the tongue and all the heating things we called pungent. These would be white and black: the same affections as those others, occurring in a different class, but appearing different for these reasons.”2005
20.4 · White, black, and a more violent fire
“They should therefore be named as follows: what expands the visual stream is white, and its opposite black. A swifter motion, belonging to another kind of fire, strikes and expands the visual stream all the way to the eyes, forces its way through the eyes’ own passages, and pours from them a mass of fire and water, which we call a tear; itself fire, it meets this from the opposite direction.”2006
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 52 · I.52.20.3–I.52.20.4
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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.