Time, memory and expectation · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordSimul means together or at once.
In the Platonic TheologyAfter invoking Augustine in V.15.5, Ficino contrasts a moving work with the mind directing it.
In this editionThe source distinguishes praesentia, presence, from duration in the dream passage.
A place to readThe earlier essence/operation distinction controls the temporal claim.

Meaning

Simul means together or at once. Propositum is the purpose of a whole action; intentio is directed attention; memoria recalls what has passed; expectatio anticipates what is to come. These are distinguished orientations, not synonyms for a single present sensation.

Use in the book

After invoking Augustine in V.15.5, Ficino contrasts a moving work with the mind directing it. Neither the movement nor the moved body possesses all its temporal phases together. It passes from future to present to past. The directing mind, however, can possess simultaneously the stable purpose of the entire work, attention to its present part, recollection of its completed part and expectation of its future part.

The mind therefore brings together things that do not yet exist and things no longer existent. Ficino infers that its relation to temporal movement is not identical with that movement. It is above time in attending to temporal things and immovable in attending to moving things. He asks why such a subject should not likewise be immortal while attending to mortal things.

This does not mean each particular psychological operation is timeless or that memory makes the past happen again. The book has already distinguished successive operation from stable essence. The example supports that distinction by showing a unifying relation to phases that the external work cannot possess all at once.

V.15.24 returns to permanence through dreams: true principles remain what they are when the dream’s setting, persons and words prove false. The lasting presence of truth differs both from successive events and from merely enduring for a long interval.

Places to read

V.2.1The earlier essence/operation distinction controls the temporal claim.
V.15.5, V.15.6Purpose, attention, memory and expectation unite a temporally successive work.
V.15.24Immutable principles outlast a dream’s transitory or fictitious setting.

Translation in this edition

The source distinguishes praesentia, presence, from duration in the dream passage. The word intentio does not merely mean a plan; the plan has its own term propositum. The Augustinian orientation is Ficino’s explicit attribution, not a claim that the supplied passage reproduces an independently collated Augustine text.

futurum / praesens / praeteritum

futurum / praesens / praeteritum. Printed forms: futuri; futuro; praesens; praeteriti; praeteritum.

Future, present and past, the successive phases of an external work. The mind can relate to what is not yet and no longer while the body passes through the phases. References: V.15.5, V.15.6. See Time, memory and expectation.

intentio

intentio. Printed forms: intentio; intentionem; intentionem mentis; intentiones; intentionum.

Directed attention, distinct from the overarching plan. Its relation to present work and its withdrawal from bodily senses illustrate the mind's different orientations. References: V.15.5, V.15.9. See Time, memory and expectation.

A meaningful particular content discerned through an image, such as this person's goodness or friendship. It is called incorporeal only in a qualified manner at the phantasy stage, which does not yet recognize that status. References: VIII.1.1, VIII.1.2, VIII.1.4. See Images, intentions, and conjecturing substance.

memoria / expectatio

memoria / expectatio. Printed forms: expectationemque; memoriam.

Memory and expectation, directed respectively toward past and future phases. Their simultaneous presence in the mind unifies phases absent from one another in external motion. References: V.15.5. See Time, memory and expectation.

praesentia

praesentia. Printed forms: praesens; praesentia; praesentiam.

Presence, especially essence's actual occurrence in the world or truth's abiding presence. The comet's being is actual presence; the dream passage contrasts sensory succession with everlasting rational presence. References: V.7.1, V.14.1, V.15.24. See Time, memory and expectation.

propositum

propositum. Printed forms: proposito; propositum.

A stable purpose or plan encompassing the whole work. It coexists in mind with present attention, past memory and future expectation while the external work unfolds successively. References: V.5.2, V.15.5. See Time, memory and expectation.

simul

simul. Printed forms: simul.

Together or at once. The mind's unified purpose and temporal orientations contrast with the succession of the moved work; the word does not deny all successive mental operations. References: V.15.5. See Time, memory and expectation.

Augustine (authorities and interlocutors)

Augustine. Augustine supports direct divine creation, the stable mind directing bodily movement, whole presence and active sensation in different passages. These local appeals have distinct argumentative functions and should not be collapsed into a single quotation. References: V.13.1, V.15.5, VII.5.2, VII.6.3. See Divine production and the third essence; Time, memory and expectation; Whole presence and vital intensity; Sensation as attentive activity.