From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordTithēnē is a nurse.
- In StobaeusThe report on Plato groups the nurse with the mother and the impression-receiving medium as images of matter.
- In this edition“Nurse” preserves the family of maternal images.
- A place to beginMatter is compared to a nurse, mother, and recipient of impressions.
- English renderings
- nurse; nurturer
Meaning
Tithēnē is a nurse. In cosmological description, the bodily image expresses a sustaining relationship to things that come to be.
Use in the book
The report on Plato groups the nurse with the mother and the impression-receiving medium as images of matter. Matter is described as lacking shape and quality in its own nature while receiving forms. The nurse image therefore concerns its role in generated things; it should not be treated as a literal person or as the model that determines their character.
Places to read
- I.11.3.2Matter is compared to a nurse, mother, and recipient of impressions.
Translation in this edition
“Nurse” preserves the family of maternal images. “Nurse of becoming” identifies the article’s topic without adding those words to every occurrence.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 131. The passage is a report about Plato preceding a direct Timaeus quotation; its descriptive language should retain that source distinction.