From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordTetraktys names the arrangement of the first four numbers whose sum is ten.
- In StobaeusThe report quotes an oath invoking the person who handed down the tetractys, called a source and root of ever-flowing nature.
- In this editionRetain “tetractys,” with the numerical explanation.
- A place to beginThe sum of the first four numbers grounds the tetractys and its oath.
- English renderings
- tetractys; fourfold numerical arrangement
Meaning
Tetraktys names the arrangement of the first four numbers whose sum is ten. Its significance depends on both the sequence and the completed total.
Use in the book
The report quotes an oath invoking the person who handed down the tetractys, called a source and root of ever-flowing nature. The numerical explanation precedes the religious formula. Reading them together shows how arithmetic order becomes an object of reverence without reducing the oath to an ordinary calculation.
Places to read
- I.10.12.11The sum of the first four numbers grounds the tetractys and its oath.
Translation in this edition
Retain “tetractys,” with the numerical explanation. Translating it simply “four” would erase the arrangement.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 125. The printed oath says “our head,” rendered “our mind”; the parallel wording “soul” is recorded in the apparatus but not substituted.