Eye and gaze · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordOculus is an eye; intuitus a look or gaze; contueri and inspicere can behold or inspect.
In the Platonic TheologyAn eye beholding many stars in one glance illustrates how a single act need not alternate between each object.
In this editionII.9.18–192 divides the quoted material and its explanation between units; read them together.
A place to readThe perfect eye and Jove’s mind appear in an attributed Orphic saying

Meaning

Oculus is an eye; intuitus a look or gaze; contueri and inspicere can behold or inspect. Ficino applies visual words to intellectual knowledge while retaining the difference between a sensory illustration and the divine mode of knowing.

Use in the book

An eye beholding many stars in one glance illustrates how a single act need not alternate between each object. The analogy answers distraction; it does not establish that God has bodily eyes. Orphic language then supplies the “perfect eye” of Jove and the “infinite eye.” These expressions praise comprehensive and unbounded cognition as Ficino presents the hymnic authorities.

The argument for infinite knowledge distinguishes this gaze from enumeration. An infinite knower comprehends itself without being bounded by another. It sees many through one form and one act. Thus the imagery is not incidental ornament: it expresses unity of act, while the nearby reasoning supplies the qualifications that ordinary vision cannot itself furnish.

Places to read

II.9.18, II.9.19The perfect eye and Jove’s mind appear in an attributed Orphic saying
II.9.21One glance at many stars illustrates unified attention
II.10.7, II.10.10The infinite eye and collective intuition oppose a finite count of objects

Translation in this edition

II.9.18–192 divides the quoted material and its explanation between units; read them together. The English eye-language is metaphorical when applied to God even where no explicit “as if” appears in the name.

intuitus / intueri / conspicere

intuitus / intueri / conspicere. Printed forms: cernere; cernit; conspicit; contuetur; inspicit; intuendo; intuetur; intuitu.

Gaze or beholding, transferred from vision to unified understanding. The visual vocabulary marks one comprehensive act, with qualifications that distinguish it from bodily sight. References: II.9.20, II.9.21, II.10.5, II.10.10. See Eye and gaze.

Iuppiter / oculus

Iuppiter / oculus. Printed forms: Iovis; oculi; oculus.

Jove and the eye-image used for comprehensive cognition. The attributed perfect and infinite eyes complement the example of one glance seeing many stars. References: II.9.18, II.9.19, II.9.21, II.10.7. See Eye and gaze.

videre / visibilis

videre / visibilis. Printed forms: invisibile; videt; visibile.

To see or behold, physically or intellectually; visible and invisible. Seeing the divine essence includes knowing the modes of its communication; visible light supplies only an analogy of invisible light. References: II.6.11, II.9.15, II.9.16. See Eye and gaze.