From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordChrēsmos is an oracle or divinely authorized utterance.
- In StobaeusFire asks the creator to grant laws to life and oracles to night, as part of a petition for divine presence and peace.
- In this edition“Oracles” preserves the plural utterances; avoid turning the word into an unnamed sanctuary.
- A place to beginOracles accompany laws and good hopes in Fire’s petition.
- English renderings
- oracle; oracular utterance
Meaning
Chrēsmos is an oracle or divinely authorized utterance. It names the pronouncement rather than necessarily the place or institution producing it.
Use in the book
Fire asks the creator to grant laws to life and oracles to night, as part of a petition for divine presence and peace. The unusual reference to night is retained but not elaborated into a particular ritual. Oracles belong to the requested guidance of mortal existence.
Places to read
- I.49.44.66Oracles accompany laws and good hopes in Fire’s petition.
Translation in this edition
“Oracles” preserves the plural utterances; avoid turning the word into an unnamed sanctuary.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 403. The apparatus questions the reading night, but the adopted text retains it and does not specify a nocturnal technique.