From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe substantivized expression concerns what happens of itself.
- In StobaeusChapter 6 places spontaneous occurrence beside fortune.
- In this edition“Spontaneous occurrence” marks the technical expression.
- A place to beginFortune and spontaneous occurrence are paired in the heading.
- English renderings
- spontaneous occurrence; what happens of itself
Meaning
The substantivized expression concerns what happens of itself. In the technical contexts selected here, an outcome need not be the result intended by an agent acting toward it.
Use in the book
Chapter 6 places spontaneous occurrence beside fortune. The report in chapter 7 lists it separately from necessity, fate, choice, and chance. The separation is worth preserving even when ordinary English might call all unexpected events “chance.”
Places to read
- I.6.headingFortune and spontaneous occurrence are paired in the heading.
- I.7.9aSpontaneous occurrence is listed alongside, but separately from, chance.
Translation in this edition
“Spontaneous occurrence” marks the technical expression. “What happens of itself” or “of its own accord” can make a less formal use more natural without introducing conscious choice.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 83, 92. The compressed chapter heading prints a contracted form, ταὐτομάτου. The lexicon gives the uncontracted headword for ease of lookup.