From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Peace
εἰρήνη
eirēnēEirēnē is peace, opposed here to a savage way of life marked by violence.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordEirēnē is peace, opposed here to a savage way of life marked by violence.
- In StobaeusFire petitions the creator to initiate mortal life into peace and to grant laws and good hopes.
- In this edition“Peace” preserves the contrast; keep the verb’s initiatory image where possible.
- A place to beginPeace is requested together with laws and good hopes.
- English renderings
- peace
Meaning
Eirēnē is peace, opposed here to a savage way of life marked by violence.
Use in the book
Fire petitions the creator to initiate mortal life into peace and to grant laws and good hopes. The vocabulary of initiation makes peaceful life something into which humanity must be led. Peace belongs with divine disclosure and ordered conduct, not merely a pause between battles.
Places to read
- I.49.44.66Peace is requested together with laws and good hopes.
Translation in this edition
“Peace” preserves the contrast; keep the verb’s initiatory image where possible.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 403. The request for oracles to night is textually questioned but retained; no particular nocturnal ritual is supplied.
From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Peace
paix
Paix concerns inward composure and relations with other people, as well as the absence of war.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPaix concerns inward composure and relations with other people, as well as the absence of war.
- In JoubertThe poet should keep calm style and moderate terms even when depicting hateful objects; the dignity of this restraint comes from peace of soul.
- In this editionThe English translation preserves the peace/union pair and the contrasting cellar/attic examples.
- A place to beginPeace of soul sustains dignity in hostile description.
- English renderings
- peace
Meaning
Paix concerns inward composure and relations with other people, as well as the absence of war. The selected witnesses make it a condition of expression and a practical truth.
Use in the book
The poet should keep calm style and moderate terms even when depicting hateful objects; the dignity of this restraint comes from peace of soul. The neighbor passage distinguishes the obligation to live in peace and union from incidental facts about where a neighbor has been. Its provocative criterion values a truth one needs for conduct over information one may ignore. The passage does not convert permissible ignorance into a command never to notice ordinary facts.
Places to read
- I, p. 87, entry 6, ¶1Peace of soul sustains dignity in hostile description.
- II, p. 809, entry 6, ¶4Peace with a neighbor is a practically binding truth.
Translation in this edition
The English translation preserves the peace/union pair and the contrasting cellar/attic examples. It keeps the Latin saying attributed to Lucan in the poet’s instruction, with its note supplying the sense rather than replacing the source quotation.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 87; II, pp. 809.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Peace
peace; repose; freedom from contention
Peace is the absence of destructive conflict and the positive repose of rightly ordered relations.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPeace is the absence of destructive conflict and the positive repose of rightly ordered relations.
- In TraherneThe opening promise rejects bloody advancement in favour of peace and love.
- In this editionPeace can name an intended order that actual conduct destroys.
- A place to beginThe writer promises an advancement by peace and loving instruction.
Meaning
Peace is the absence of destructive conflict and the positive repose of rightly ordered relations. It describes both a method of instruction and the world’s intended life.
Use in the book
The opening promise rejects bloody advancement in favour of peace and love. A loving teacher chooses methods that delight and sustain the person being raised. Peace is thus an expression of the end within the means, not merely the result after a difficult operation.
The world itself is a region of peace until human beings disquiet it. False wealth, competing interests, and invented wants flood its beauty with contention. This diagnosis makes peace more than an inward exemption from public disorder: recovering it requires another way of valuing goods and persons. The book’s gentle instruction aims at that larger transformation by changing what its reader can see and desire.
Places to read
In this edition
Peace can name an intended order that actual conduct destroys. Its praise should not be mistaken for a factual denial of war or social violence.