From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPoliteia can mean a civic constitution or a shared manner of life.
- In StobaeusThe Laws describes war overturning constitutions and changing laws.
- In this edition“Constitution” suits political arrangements; “way of life” suits the broader communal use.
- A place to beginWar can overthrow civic constitutions.
- English renderings
- constitution; civic order; way of life
Meaning
Politeia can mean a civic constitution or a shared manner of life. Its political origin does not require the same institutional sense everywhere.
Use in the book
The Laws describes war overturning constitutions and changing laws. The Hermetic lament instead calls the souls’ blessed existence with gods a politeia. The first concerns civic arrangements; the second a common life. Preserving that range avoids making the heavenly scene into an unmentioned earthly constitution.
Places to read
- I.6.17b.1War can overthrow civic constitutions.
- I.49.44.38The shared life of souls with gods is described with the same noun.
Translation in this edition
“Constitution” suits political arrangements; “way of life” suits the broader communal use.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 88, 395–396. The Laws passage initially stresses circumstances but subsequently allows a role for skilled human action.