From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPalingenesia denotes renewed birth or coming-to-be.
- In StobaeusThe Hermetic narrative presents bodily embodiment as a consequence of earlier deeds and distinguishes rebirths through the bodies assigned.
- In this edition“Rebirth” preserves renewed embodiment where that is the context.
- A place to beginDifferent rebirths involve different bodies within a narrative of recompense.
- English renderings
- rebirth; renewed coming-to-be
Meaning
Palingenesia denotes renewed birth or coming-to-be. Its sense depends on whether the account is narrating embodiment or interpreting a cycle through myth.
Use in the book
The Hermetic narrative presents bodily embodiment as a consequence of earlier deeds and distinguishes rebirths through the bodies assigned. The passage about release is damaged and cannot establish every detail of the promised restoration. Porphyry interprets Circe as the circular course of rebirth, joining destruction to birth and birth to destruction. This is the commentator’s allegory, not a separate literal assertion by Homer.
Places to read
- I.49.44.46Different rebirths involve different bodies within a narrative of recompense.
- I.49.60.5Circe is interpreted as the circuit linking birth and destruction.
- I.49.8.7Coming back to life is proposed as the process balancing dying.
Translation in this edition
“Rebirth” preserves renewed embodiment where that is the context. The entry distinguishes a mythical speech from an allegorical interpretation of poetry.
Coming back to life
Anabiōskesthai means to come back to life. In I.49.8.7, the Phaedo’s argument requires a process opposite to dying so that nature is not “lame” in one direction. The verb states the return whose necessity is being argued. It does not yet give a detailed account of its mechanism or the particular body in which a soul returns.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 328, 398, 446.