From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Plant
φυτόν
phytonPhyton names a plant or growing thing.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPhyton names a plant or growing thing.
- In StobaeusThe first notice in the plant chapter assigns Plato and Thales the view that plants are ensouled living creatures.
- In this editionThe translation distinguishes “ensouled” from “animal.” Plant life cannot be excluded merely by choosing the narrower English meaning of zōion.
- A place to beginMovement and elastic recovery support the description of plants as ensouled.
- English renderings
- plant
Meaning
Phyton names a plant or growing thing. The question whether plants possess soul is distinct from the question whether they belong to the same class as animals.
Use in the book
The first notice in the plant chapter assigns Plato and Thales the view that plants are ensouled living creatures. The evidence offered is their movement under tension and their response to applied loads. The next notice assigns Aristotle soul in plants but withholds animal status, grounding the distinction in impulse and perception. The chapter therefore concerns both observed movements and the criteria of classification.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The translation distinguishes “ensouled” from “animal.” Plant life cannot be excluded merely by choosing the narrower English meaning of zōion.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 297–298.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Plants
φυτοῖς (phytois); φυτῶν (phytōn); plantae
Phyta names growing things or plants in the botanical contexts collected here.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPhyta names growing things or plants in the botanical contexts collected here.
- In this workA702 presents plants as a major test of how a living body arises from physical constituents.
- In this editionNicolaus' form “Abrucalis” comes through a long translation chain and is itself not uniquely attached to Empedocles throughout that broader tradition.
- A place to readCollects plant origins, mixed sex, growth, fruit, leaves, flavours, and nutrition.
Meaning
Phyta names growing things or plants in the botanical contexts collected here. Aëtius begins with trees as the earliest zōia, living things, so “animals” is too restrictive for that opening use of the category. The Latin plantae belongs to the multiply translated treatise attributed to Nicolaus of Damascus.
Use in the book
A702 presents plants as a major test of how a living body arises from physical constituents. Aëtius describes their priority, mixture, growth, fruit, leaves, flavours, and uptake from soil. The plant's composition includes the principle of both male and female, while its growth is compared to an embryo's relation to the womb. Theophrastus and Aristotle object that assigning roots and shoots to opposed elemental tendencies fails to explain a single growing organism. Plutarch describes plants as drawing suitable water without sensation. Nicolaus' mediated text attributes desire, sensation, pleasure, pain, and understanding to them. Those last testimonies do not say the same thing: the conflict over sensation is real and must not disappear beneath the modern editorial claim that all witnesses agree. The botanical collection consequently supports both continuity between plants and other living things and disputes about the character of that continuity. It cannot be reduced to either a modern mechanical plant or a securely reconstructed conscious plant.
Places to read
- A 70 (testimony)2Aëtius. Collects plant origins, mixed sex, growth, fruit, leaves, flavours, and nutrition.
- A 70 (polemical)2Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants; Aristotle, On the Soul. Criticize the partition of plant growth between elemental constituents.
- A 70 (testimony)2Plutarch, Table Talk; Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants. Give divergent claims about sensation and plant nourishment.
Translation in this edition
Nicolaus' form “Abrucalis” comes through a long translation chain and is itself not uniquely attached to Empedocles throughout that broader tradition. The edition's assurances of exact agreement are stronger than the printed evidence.