From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordDeilia is cowardice, a failure of courage.
- In StobaeusThe Hermetic account presents cowardice as something that can lead spirit astray.
- In this edition“Cowardice” preserves the ethical contrast; “fear” would be too broad.
- A place to beginCowardice is opposed to spirit’s stable ordering as courage.
- English renderings
- cowardice
Meaning
Deilia is cowardice, a failure of courage. It is distinct from fear considered simply as an emotion.
Use in the book
The Hermetic account presents cowardice as something that can lead spirit astray. A stable relation to the soul’s thought instead makes spirit courageous. The contrast concerns how an impulse is governed; the passage does not offer a separate definition of every form of fear.
Places to read
- I.49.4.1Cowardice is opposed to spirit’s stable ordering as courage.
Translation in this edition
“Cowardice” preserves the ethical contrast; “fear” would be too broad.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 321–322. The passage explains virtue through settled relations among psychic powers, rather than treating courage as mere intensity of impulse.