From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Ungenerated
ἀγένητος
agenētosAgenētos denies an origin through generation.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAgenētos denies an origin through generation.
- In StobaeusThe treatise attributed to Ocellus argues that the cosmos is ungenerated and imperishable.
- In this edition“Ungenerated” preserves the philosophical contrast with coming to be.
- A place to beginOcellus connects the cosmos’s lack of beginning and end with circularity.
- English renderings
- ungenerated; without coming to be
Meaning
Agenētos denies an origin through generation. It should be distinguished from a claim that something will never cease to exist.
Use in the book
The treatise attributed to Ocellus argues that the cosmos is ungenerated and imperishable. Circular shape and movement, together with time and substance, are taken to exhibit neither beginning nor end. Here the two predicates form a connected argument, although one concerns origin and the other destruction.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Ungenerated” preserves the philosophical contrast with coming to be. “Unborn” would suggest biological birth too narrowly.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 173–174. The work circulated under Ocellus’s name; its traditional attribution is retained. The phrase “absence of a beginning” is editorially supplied in I.20.3.1.
From the book
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Ungenerated
ἀγένητα (agenēta)
Agenēta means ungenerated or not come into being.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAgenēta means ungenerated or not come into being.
- In EmpedoclesAs interpreted with the other physical fragments, the adjective suits the enduring constituents: B 11–122 deny coming-to-be from what was not, and B 172 denies addition to or loss from the fundamental stock.
- In this editionThe typography matters more than the fragment's brevity might suggest.
- A place to readThe adjective survives; the printed subject “roots” is supplied.
Meaning
Agenēta means ungenerated or not come into being. B 7 preserves this adjective in a lexicographical citation from Hesychius. The noun “roots” preceding it in this edition is an editorial supplement, explicitly marked with angle brackets. The difference between the secure word and its supplied subject is central to using the fragment responsibly.
Use in the book
As interpreted with the other physical fragments, the adjective suits the enduring constituents: B 11–122 deny coming-to-be from what was not, and B 172 denies addition to or loss from the fundamental stock. This larger context supports the account of permanent roots without requiring B 7 to carry the whole doctrine unaided.
The term also helps qualify language which might otherwise sound genealogical. B 172 calls the constituents equal and of like age “in their birth,” and repeatedly says things grow from one another. These expressions need not describe an original creation of the roots. Their varying combinations arise and pass away while the account insists that the sources remain.
The fragment supplies no cosmological birthday, creator, or timeless realm outside the cycle. “Ungenerated” is a negative claim about origin; what follows positively must be gathered from other passages. Nor does the source equate the adjective with a later Platonic distinction between intelligible being and generated sensible things.
Places to read
- B 7The adjective survives; the printed subject “roots” is supplied.
- B 12Coming from non-being and perishing into it are ruled out.
- B 17.27–35Equal age and enduring identity must be interpreted together.
Translation in this edition
The typography matters more than the fragment's brevity might suggest. Writing “Empedocles says, ‘the roots are ungenerated’” without brackets would overstate what this specific witness transmits. The surrounding doctrine supports the paraphrase, but the quotation does not contain a complete sentence.
Source note
The edition reproduces editorial supplements but has no full critical apparatus. A discussion of the history of the supplement would require evidence not printed here.