From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordMalakos describes softness, opposed here to hardness.
- In StobaeusThe Theaetetus uses the transition from soft to hard to demonstrate a change occurring in something that stays in the same place.
- In this edition“Soft” keeps the physical sense.
- A place to beginSoftness can be lost through alteration without locomotion.
- English renderings
- soft
Meaning
Malakos describes softness, opposed here to hardness. It can name a bodily quality without implying weakness of character.
Use in the book
The Theaetetus uses the transition from soft to hard to demonstrate a change occurring in something that stays in the same place. Softness is the starting quality in the example; its loss is still motion in the broader classification under examination.
Places to read
- I.19.8Softness can be lost through alteration without locomotion.
Translation in this edition
“Soft” keeps the physical sense. Ethical meanings should not be imported into this example.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 167–168. The dialogue distinguishes kinds of motion rather than presenting a theory that all soft substances harden in the same way.