Stobaeus, Volume I

Name: Stobaeus, Volume I
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek with an independent English translation.

Explore the Lexicon

Stobaeus, Volume IBook I Chapter 53 · I.53.heading–I.53.2

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

Facing Pages · Branch 830 of 879

Book I Chapter 53 · I.53.heading–I.53.2

Book Mode

Ancient Greek

p. 1656

Κεφάλαιον ΝΓʹ

I.53.heading

Περὶ ἀκοῆς.

1

I.53.1

⟨Ἀετίου.⟩

Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὴν ἀκοὴν γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὴν πρόσπτωσιν πνεύματος τῷ χόνδρῳ, ὅνπερ φησὶν ἐξηρτῆσθαι ἐντὸς τοῦ ὠτός, κώδωνος δίκην αἰωρούμενον καὶ τυπτόμενον.

2

I.53.2

Ἀλκμαίων ἀκούειν ἡμᾶς τῷ κενῷ τῷ ἐντὸς τοῦ ὠτός· τοῦτο γὰρ εἶναι τὸ διηχοῦν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος εἰσβολήν· πάντα γὰρ τὰ κοῖλα ἠχεῖ.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 53

p. 1657

Chapter 53 · Hearing

I.53.heading

On hearing.²⁰¹⁶

1 · Cartilage suspended like a bell

I.53.1

⟨Aëtius.⟩

Empedocles holds that hearing occurs when a current of air strikes the cartilage, which he says hangs inside the ear, swinging and being struck like a bell.²⁰¹⁷

2 · The resonant hollow of the ear

I.53.2

Alcmaeon holds that we hear by means of the empty space inside the ear: this is what resounds when air enters, for all hollow things give out sound.²⁰¹⁸

2016.The heading is absent from the witnesses FPL and supplied by the editor from Photius p. 112b32 and the Laurentian table of contents. The chapter brings together accounts of impact, resonance, and transmission. Decimal subdivisions within the longer excerpts are modern aids to comparison.

2017.The supplied Latin attribution covers excerpts 1-4: Aëtius IV.16.1-4, Diels p. 406, line 16. Pneuma here is a current or movement of air. The comparison is specifically to a suspended bell. Chondros is rendered cartilage without identifying it with a particular structure in modern anatomy.

2018.The explanation appeals to the resonance of a hollow space. Kenon here is the cavity within the ear; the following reference to entering air does not warrant treating it as an absolute vacuum. Diēchoun describes its sounding through or resounding.

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.