Honey, whiteness and the wall · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordMel, encountered as mellis, is honey; guttula is a small drop.
In the Platonic TheologyThe wall tests access to size: one cannot judge its magnitude unless colour and light have first moved sight, and distance is said to impair judgement of size sooner than judgement of colour and light.
In this edition“Pleasing to the nostrils” renders the olfactory naribusque suavis, not a fourth quality added to colour, sweetness and odour.
A place to readThe wall’s magnitude is perceived through colour and light

Meaning

Mel, encountered as mellis, is honey; guttula is a small drop. Dulcedo is sweetness, odor smell, albedo whiteness, and paries a wall. These ordinary nouns anchor distinct tests of quality; they are not interchangeable illustrations of sensation.

Use in the book

The wall tests access to size: one cannot judge its magnitude unless colour and light have first moved sight, and distance is said to impair judgement of size sooner than judgement of colour and light. Honey tests coexistence: each drop is coloured, sweet and fragrant, so multiple qualities occupy the same material where two bodies cannot occupy the same place without obstruction. Whiteness tests division. Dividing a white body leaves whiteness in each piece, with the same qualitative character and similar efficacy, though not the same extent. Ficino’s contrast is between “whiteness of a part” and “part of whiteness.” He does not say that the pieces are equal in size or that every qualitative intensity necessarily remains numerically identical under every material alteration.

Places to read

I.2.13The wall’s magnitude is perceived through colour and light
I.2.15A drop of honey contains several qualities together
I.2.17The white body distinguishes qualitative character from quantitative division

Translation in this edition

“Pleasing to the nostrils” renders the olfactory naribusque suavis, not a fourth quality added to colour, sweetness and odour. In the whiteness passage, the reversal of partis albedo and pars albedinis is the argument’s lexical hinge and should remain visible.

dulcedo / odor / flavus

dulcedo / odor / flavus. Printed forms: dulcedo; dulcis; flava; flavus; odor.

Sweetness, odour and yellow colour. The three qualities of honey are distinguished by sensory character yet coexist throughout the same matter. References: I.2.15. See Honey, whiteness and the wall.

mel / guttula

mel / guttula. Printed forms: guttula; mellis.

Honey and a small drop. Each drop’s simultaneous colour, taste and smell is offered as evidence that several qualities can coexist where two bodies cannot. References: I.2.15. See Honey, whiteness and the wall.

paries / distantia

paries / distantia. Printed forms: distantiam; paries.

A wall and distance from perception. The wall’s size can be judged only through colour and light, and its magnitude becomes harder to judge at distance sooner than those qualities. References: I.2.13. See Honey, whiteness and the wall.

partis albedo / pars albedinis

partis albedo / pars albedinis. Printed forms: pars albedinis; partis albedo.

Whiteness of a part, as opposed to a part of whiteness. The reversed genitive relation expresses why division of a white body does not divide qualitative character in the same way as extent. References: I.2.17. See Honey, whiteness and the wall.

suavis / naris

suavis / naris. Printed forms: naribusque suavis.

Pleasing to the nostrils. The honey example’s phrase specifies fragrance as pleasant smell; it is not a fourth independent quality added to colour, sweetness and odour. References: I.2.15. See Honey, whiteness and the wall.