From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →War
πόλεμος
polemosPolemos is war or armed conflict and can also enter broader images of opposition.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPolemos is war or armed conflict and can also enter broader images of opposition.
- In StobaeusThe Laws discussion gives war as one circumstance that overturns constitutions and changes laws, alongside poverty and disease.
- In this edition“War” is direct; retain the difference between the circumstance and the legislative response.
- A place to beginWar illustrates circumstances forcing constitutional and legal change.
- English renderings
- war
Meaning
Polemos is war or armed conflict and can also enter broader images of opposition.
Use in the book
The Laws discussion gives war as one circumstance that overturns constitutions and changes laws, alongside poverty and disease. This initially emphasizes the limits of deliberate planning. The dialogue then qualifies the claim by allowing a role for skilled action, so war is not proof that legislation is always futile.
Places to read
- I.6.17b.1War illustrates circumstances forcing constitutional and legal change.
Translation in this edition
“War” is direct; retain the difference between the circumstance and the legislative response.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 88. The initial claim that chance legislates everything is a stage in the argument, not its final unqualified conclusion.
From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →War
guerre
Guerre can name armed conflict or supply an image for destructive exchange.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordGuerre can name armed conflict or supply an image for destructive exchange.
- In JoubertThe criticism of commerce calls it a war of money and opposes it to a possible rivalry in generosity.
- In this editionThe English translation preserves “war of money,” “rivalry of generosity” and the later binds/disunites paradox.
- A place to beginCommerce is criticized through a war metaphor.
- English renderings
- war; wars
Meaning
Guerre can name armed conflict or supply an image for destructive exchange. Joubert also sees relations formed through the very process of hostility.
Use in the book
The criticism of commerce calls it a war of money and opposes it to a possible rivalry in generosity. Government is separately charged with war and peace so that private people are relieved of those great cares. The undated note on long wars then calls war a kind of commerce that binds those it disunites. The opposed verbs are the point: exchange and conflict cannot be divided into wholly unrelated spheres.
Places to read
- I, p. 47, entry 1, ¶6Commerce is criticized through a war metaphor.
- I, p. 461–462, entry 7, ¶1War and peace are assigned to governmental responsibility.
- II, p. 917, entry 2, ¶1Long wars create ties between opposing peoples.
Translation in this edition
The English translation preserves “war of money,” “rivalry of generosity” and the later binds/disunites paradox. Commerce in the latter includes intercourse or exchange and need not mean literal trade. Its qualification “in some way” remains essential.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 47, 461, 462; II, pp. 917.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →War
war; wars; blood; conflict — organized violence and its moral consequences
War retains its literal sense of armed conflict even where the language of struggle is extended to the resistance of sin.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordWar retains its literal sense of armed conflict even where the language of struggle is extended to the resistance of sin.
- In TraherneThe opening promise rejects advancement through bloody war and the dethroning of kings in favour of the gentle methods of love.
- In this editionThese passages do not by themselves supply a systematic judgment on every war.
- A place to beginThe proposed path to glory contrasts peace and love with bloody advancement.
Meaning
War retains its literal sense of armed conflict even where the language of struggle is extended to the resistance of sin. Historical and figurative uses must be distinguished.
Use in the book
The opening promise rejects advancement through bloody war and the dethroning of kings in favour of the gentle methods of love. This announces the manner of instruction and the kind of glory sought. Elsewhere war is one of the social miseries produced by rapacity, ambition, and pride, which universal charity would remove.
The account of David is more historically differentiated. His wars and martial offices are acknowledged, but the poem places his deeper delight in divine works, contemplation, and song rather than in royal splendour. The practical question is how to remain charitable and happy in a world where injury and bloodshed occur. Traherne’s contemplative peace is thus tested by violent conditions, not based on their nonexistence.
Places to read
In this edition
These passages do not by themselves supply a systematic judgment on every war. Do not convert a devotional contrast into an unqualified political programme, or make David’s battles merely figurative.
Source note
Primary text: I.4, III.69, IV.24, IV.20. No 2026 editorial notes used.