From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordLeptos describes thinness or fineness.
- In StobaeusZeno’s reported elemental cycle makes fire arise as air becomes finer.
- In this edition“Finer” suits elemental attenuation; “thin” suits the coverings.
- A place to beginAir becoming finer leads to the kindling of fire.
- English renderings
- thin; fine; subtle
Meaning
Leptos describes thinness or fineness. Related verbs can express the process of becoming finer or more attenuated.
Use in the book
Zeno’s reported elemental cycle makes fire arise as air becomes finer. The Hermetic eye analogy instead contrasts thin coverings with thick ones. Neither passage uses “subtle” merely to mean intellectually clever: the immediate concern is the constitution or texture of bodies.
Places to read
- I.17.3.1Air becoming finer leads to the kindling of fire.
- I.49.45.14Thin coverings are associated with sharper vision.
Translation in this edition
“Finer” suits elemental attenuation; “thin” suits the coverings. Avoid an unexplained metaphorical “subtle.”
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 152–153, 410. The clause about air becoming finer follows Wachsmuth’s emendation of a damaged reading.