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 53 · I.53.3–I.53.5.1

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Book I Chapter 53 · I.53.3–I.53.5.1

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Ancient Greek

p. 1658

3

I.53.3

Διογένης τοῦ ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ ἀέρος ὑπὸ τῆς φωνῆς τυπτομένου καὶ κινουμένου.

4

I.53.4

Οἱ ἀπὸ Πλάτωνος πλήττεσθαι τὸν ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ ἀέρα, τοῦτον δ᾽ ἀνακλᾶσθαι εἰς τὰ ἡγεμονικὰ καὶ γίνεσθαι τῆς ἀκοῆς τὴν αἴσθησιν.

5.1

I.53.5.1

Πλάτωνος ἐν Τιμαίῳ.

Τὸ δὲ αἰσθητικὸν ἐν ἡμῖν μέρος ἐπιζητοῦσι τὸ περὶ τὴν ἀκοήν, δι᾽ ἃς αἰτίας τὰ περὶ αὐτὸ συμβαίνει παθήματα, λεκτέον.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 53

p. 1659

3 · Air within the head

I.53.3

Diogenes holds that hearing occurs when the air in the head is struck and moved by sound.²⁰¹⁹

4 · Transmission to the governing parts

I.53.4

The followers of Plato hold that the air in the head is struck, then reflected back to the governing parts, and that the perception of hearing arises.²⁰²⁰

5.1 · The causes of hearing

I.53.5.1

Plato, in the Timaeus.

“For those investigating the perceptive part in us concerned with hearing, we must state the causes of the affections that occur in it.”²⁰²¹

2019.The Greek is an abbreviated report: hearing occurs is understood from the chapter’s subject. Phōnē can mean voice or sound; sound is used here because the mechanism is stated generally. No further account of the movement or its destination survives in this sentence.

2020.The attribution is to Plato’s followers. Anaklasthai suggests reflection or a bending back. The plural hēgemonika, governing parts, is retained rather than replaced with a single ruling faculty or a modern anatomical designation.

2021.The edition identifies Timaeus 67a-c. The printed opening to de, the part, and epizētousi, investigating, differ from the readings triton de, third, and episkopousi reported for Plato in the apparatus. The translation follows this printing and smooths its word order. Pathēmata are affections or experiences undergone by the perceptive part.

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.