From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Brightness
λαμπρός
lamprosLampros describes brightness or brilliance.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordLampros describes brightness or brilliance.
- In StobaeusThe interpretation of Homer explains the sun’s red appearance at rising through moisture and exhalation, which redden bright things mingling with them.
- In this edition“Bright” preserves the adjective; “brightness” is suitable when English requires the quality as a noun.
- A place to beginMoisture and exhalation explain the reddening of what is bright.
- English renderings
- bright; shining; brightness
Meaning
Lampros describes brightness or brilliance. Its substantival use can mean what is bright, rather than a separately existing substance called brightness.
Use in the book
The interpretation of Homer explains the sun’s red appearance at rising through moisture and exhalation, which redden bright things mingling with them. Brightness and redness therefore perform different roles: something luminous acquires a particular appearance under specified conditions.
Places to read
- I.25.7.2Moisture and exhalation explain the reddening of what is bright.
Translation in this edition
“Bright” preserves the adjective; “brightness” is suitable when English requires the quality as a noun.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 214. The explanation is the commentator’s inference, not a physical doctrine explicitly stated in Homer’s simile.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Brightness
brightness; bright; shining; radiance
Brightness is manifested light or lustre.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordBrightness is manifested light or lustre.
- In TraherneThe world's brightness can paradoxically escape attention through its very greatness.
- In this editionBrightness may be optical, intellectual, or revelatory.
- A place to beginWorldly brightness is overlooked because its magnitude seems impossible to enjoy.
Meaning
Brightness is manifested light or lustre. Its transferred use suggests excellence made perceptible, especially the luminosity of wisdom, goodness, or a life that reflects them.
Use in the book
The world's brightness can paradoxically escape attention through its very greatness. The remedy is opened sight rather than a brighter object. Christ is addressed as the brightness of eternal goodness, while the speaker asks to become a mirror of that brightness. Reflection is active transformation: the mind is to receive the love it sees and reproduce its character. II.84 gives a more exact intellectual gloss by naming divine brightness the light of eternal wisdom. The vocabulary therefore connects visible radiance with intelligibility and exemplary life. It does not merely add splendour to things already known; it asks how excellence becomes present and recognized.
Places to read
In this edition
Brightness may be optical, intellectual, or revelatory. The light of wisdom in II.84 is not a claim about physical illumination.
Source note
Primary text: I.37, I.87, II.84. II.84 supplies the explicit intellectual interpretation of the brightness figure.