From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordTonos is tension or tautness.
- In StobaeusThe account associated with Cleanthes says that tension does not cease while cosmic cycles and ordering continue.
- In this edition“Tension” preserves the physical image.
- A place to beginUnceasing tension accompanies the development of cosmic parts at their proper times.
- English renderings
- tension; tautness
Meaning
Tonos is tension or tautness. In cosmology it can name a continuing condition of the world’s substance rather than a temporary strain between separate bodies.
Use in the book
The account associated with Cleanthes says that tension does not cease while cosmic cycles and ordering continue. Growth from seeds provides the analogy: parts of the whole appear at their appropriate times, as parts of an individual do. The word thus links sustained cohesion with an ordered unfolding of living things.
Places to read
- I.17.3.3Unceasing tension accompanies the development of cosmic parts at their proper times.
Translation in this edition
“Tension” preserves the physical image. It should not be translated as emotional stress in this account.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 153. The opening construction is difficult. The translation takes fire as the implicit agent of the cycle without inserting it into the printed Greek.