From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordOchēma is a vehicle or conveyance.
- In StobaeusThe ship analogy distinguishes principal moving causes from necessary conditions and describes soul using the whole body as instrument or vehicle.
- In this edition“Vehicle” retains the image of conveyance.
- A place to beginThe body serves soul as instrument or vehicle.
- English renderings
- vehicle; bodily vehicle
Meaning
Ochēma is a vehicle or conveyance. In accounts of soul it can describe the body as an instrument, a divine body, or an intermediate covering.
Use in the book
The ship analogy distinguishes principal moving causes from necessary conditions and describes soul using the whole body as instrument or vehicle. Another survey assigns vehicles to divine kinds according to their rank. The passage on coverings describes ethereal, heavenly, and pneumatic intermediaries that protect intellectual life and connect it with solid body. The language should therefore not be restricted to one uniform “subtle body” doctrine.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Vehicle” retains the image of conveyance. The difficult wording about the coverings’ position between souls is preserved and explained in the edition’s note.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 371, 379, 385.