From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSystasis concerns how constituents stand together as an organized thing.
- In StobaeusThe Hermetic description of an animal’s balanced constitution associates proportionate elements with warmth for action, lightness for motion, tempering to touch, and firmness.
- In this edition“Constitution” emphasizes the resulting organization; “composition” emphasizes the constituents.
- A place to beginA proportionate elemental constitution supports several bodily capacities.
- English renderings
- constitution; composition; formation
Meaning
Systasis concerns how constituents stand together as an organized thing. It can name both their combination and the resulting constitution.
Use in the book
The Hermetic description of an animal’s balanced constitution associates proportionate elements with warmth for action, lightness for motion, tempering to touch, and firmness. Proportion is qualitative and functional as well as numerical. The passage does not say that equal quantities of every element are required.
Places to read
- I.49.69.34A proportionate elemental constitution supports several bodily capacities.
Translation in this edition
“Constitution” emphasizes the resulting organization; “composition” emphasizes the constituents. Avoid treating it as a modern chemical formula.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 469. Symmetros means proportionate here, while pēxis refers to firmness or consolidation rather than a different apparatus reading.