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 60 · I.60.1.6–I.60.1.8

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English Page · Branch 854 of 879

Book I Chapter 60 · I.60.1.6–I.60.1.8

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Ancient Greek

p. 1704

1.6

I.60.1.6

ὃ δὴ καὶ προσεικάζομεν τῷ τοῦ κύρτου πλέγματι κατὰ μέσον διατεταμένον ἐκ πυρὸς πεπλέχθαι πᾶν, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα, ὅσα ἔξωθεν, ἀέρος. Τὸ θερμὸν δὴ κατὰ φύσιν εἰς τὴν αὑτοῦ χώραν ἔξω πρὸς τὸ ξυγγενὲς ὁμολογητέον ἰέναι.

1.7

I.60.1.7

Δυοῖν δὲ ταῖν διεξόδοιν οὔσαιν, τῆς μὲν κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ἔξω, τῆς δὲ αὖ κατὰ στόμα καὶ τὰς ῥῖνας, ὅταν μὲν ἐπὶ θάτερα ὁρμήσῃ, θάτερα περιωθεῖ· τὸ δὲ περιωσθὲν εἰς τὸ πῦρ ἐμπῖπτον θερμαίνεται, τὸ δ᾽ ἐξιὸν ψύχεται.

1.8

I.60.1.8

Μεταβαλλούσης δὲ τῆς θερμότητος καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν ἔξοδον θερμοτέρων γιγνομένων πάλιν ἐκείνῃ ῥέπον αὖ τὸ θερμότερον μᾶλλον, πρὸς τὴν αὑτοῦ φύσιν φερόμενον, περιωθεῖ τὸ κατὰ θάτερα· τὸ δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ πάσχον καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀνταποδιδὸν ἀεί, κύκλον ἀεὶ σαλευόμενον, ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα ἀπειργασμένον ὑπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων τὴν ἀναπνοὴν καὶ ἐκπνοὴν γίγνεσθαι παρέχεται.

Stobaeus, Volume I: Book I Chapter 60

p. 1705

1.6 · The mesh of fire and air

I.60.1.6

“We also liken this to the mesh of a fish trap: what is stretched through the middle is woven wholly of fire, while the other parts, outside, are of air. We must agree that what is hot naturally travels outward to its own region, toward what is akin to it.”²⁰⁷²

1.7 · Two outlets

I.60.1.7

“There are two outlets, one outward through the body, the other through the mouth and nostrils. Whenever the heat rushes toward one, it drives the air around by the other. What is driven around falls into the fire and is heated; what goes out is cooled.”²⁰⁷³

1.8 · Alternating inhalation and exhalation

I.60.1.8

“When the heat shifts and what lies by the other outlet grows hotter, the hotter part leans more in that direction in turn, moving toward its own nature, and drives around what lies by the opposite route. This continually undergoes the same effects and returns them in kind, producing a circle that is always being rocked to and fro by both movements, and so brings about inhalation and exhalation.”²⁰⁷⁴

2072.Kyrtos is a basket-like fish trap. The comparison recalls an earlier description in the Timaeus, outside this excerpt. The English smooths the compressed construction after liken while preserving the central fire and outer air. Movement toward what is akin explains why internal heat tends outward.

2073.The Greek uses dual forms for the two routes. Heat and air are made explicit in the English where the shifting subjects are understood from the preceding account. The contrast is between the bodily surface and the mouth and nostrils, with heating inward and cooling outward.

2074.The final construction is difficult. The English provisionally connects kyklon, circle, with the resulting oscillation produced by the two movements. The apparatus records kyklōi houtō, thus in a circle, for Plato in place of this printing’s kyklon aei. The printed wording is retained, including the distinction between anapnoē and ekpnoē at the end.

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.