Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 826 of 879
Book I Chapter 52 · I.52.20.5–I.52.20.7
Ancient Greek
p. 164820.5
καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἐκπηδῶντος πυρὸς οἷον ἀπ᾽ ἀστραπῆς, τοῦ δ᾽ εἰσιόντος καὶ περὶ τὸ νοτερὸν κατασβεννυμένου, παντοδαπῶν ἐν τῇ κυκλήσει ταύτῃ γιγνομένων χρωμάτων, μαρμαρυγὰς μὲν τὸ πάθος προσείπαμεν, τὸ δὲ τοῦτο ἀπεργαζόμενον λαμπρόν τε καὶ στίλβον ἐπωνομάσαμεν.
20.6
Τὸ δὲ τούτων αὖ μεταξὺ πυρὸς γένος, πρὸς μὲν τὸ τῶν ὀμμάτων ὑγρὸν ἀφικνούμενον καὶ κεραννύμενον αὐτῷ, στίλβον δὲ οὔ, τῇ δὲ διὰ τῆς νοτίδος αὐγῇ τοῦ πυρὸς μιγνυμένῃ χρῶμα ἔναιμον παρασχόν, τοὔνομα ἐρυθρὸν λέγομεν. Λαμπρὸν δὲ ἐρυθρῷ λευκῷ τε μιγνύμενον ξανθὸν γέγονε.
20.7
Τὸ δὲ ὅσον μέτρον ὅσον οὔ, οὐδ᾽ εἴ τις εἰδείη, νοῦν ἔχει τὸ λέγειν, ὧν μήτε τινὰ ἀνάγκην μήτε τὸν εἰκότα λόγον καὶ μετρίως ἄν τις εἰπεῖν εἴη δυνατός.
Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 52
p. 164920.5 · Dazzling brightness
“With one fire leaping out as though from lightning and the other entering and being quenched in the moisture, all sorts of colors arise in this circling motion. We have called the experience dazzling flashes, and have named what produces it bright and gleaming.”2007
20.6 · Red and golden yellow
“The intermediate kind of fire reaches the moisture of the eyes and blends with it without gleaming. By giving a bloodlike color to the fire’s radiance as it mingles through the moisture, it receives the name red. Brightness mixed with red and white becomes golden yellow.”2008
20.7 · The limits of specifying proportions
“As for how great the measure is and how great it is not, even if someone knew, it makes no sense to state it, when one could offer neither any necessary explanation nor even a moderately likely account of it.”2009
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume I · Book I Chapter 52 · I.52.20.5–I.52.20.7
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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.