From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordDekas is ten, understood in the arithmetic excerpts as a complete numerical order.
- In StobaeusThe fragment under Philolaus’s name describes the decad’s power as guiding divine, heavenly, and human life, and connects its absence with indefiniteness and obscurity.
- In this edition“Decad” is retained as a technical headword; “ten” explains the numerical reference.
- A place to beginThe decad’s power is praised as a principle of ordered intelligibility.
- English renderings
- decad; ten
Meaning
Dekas is ten, understood in the arithmetic excerpts as a complete numerical order. The word can carry evaluative and cosmological significance beyond counting ten objects.
Use in the book
The fragment under Philolaus’s name describes the decad’s power as guiding divine, heavenly, and human life, and connects its absence with indefiniteness and obscurity. The doxographical report also observes that counting returns to the unit after ten. These are claims about numerical organization and explanatory power.
Places to read
- Arith.3aThe decad’s power is praised as a principle of ordered intelligibility.
- I.10.12.11Counting and the first-four-number sum explain the decad’s completeness.
Translation in this edition
“Decad” is retained as a technical headword; “ten” explains the numerical reference.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 16–17, 125. Arith.3a contains a lacuna around the claim about participation and guidance; the entry does not supply the missing syntax.