Words · Meanings · Passages
Lexicon
Terms from the books in the Diotimos library, with definitions, translation notes, and links to their passages.
4,297 entries across 21 collectionsTerms beginning with P
109–144 of 264
Plato’s cave and gradual education
Spelunca is a cave; vincula are bonds.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Platonist disagreement and descent
Platonici names a range of thinkers rather than a single unanimous school.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Plausibility and probability
Vraisemblance concerns likeness or credibility relative to truth; probabilité names probability.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Play and gambling
Jeu ranges from play or a game to gambling.
Intimate Journals
Playing odd and even
Artiazō means play odd and even.
Lysis
Pleasure
Hēdonē means pleasure; delight.
Lysis · Stobaeus, Volume I+3 books
Pleasure and pain
B107 places being pleased and being pained beside thinking.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Pleasure and voluptuousness
Plaisir is the broad word for pleasure; jouissance stresses its actual enjoyment or possession.
The Green Notebook · Intimate Journals
Pleasure, Salvation, and the Present
Salut means spiritual salvation in LXIV, where the final aspiration is to sainthood.
Intimate Journals
Plectrum
Plēktron means plectrum; the implement used to strike the lyre’s strings.
Lysis
Ploërmel and Josselin
Ploërmel heads the October 1 entry; Josselin is the named destination of the excursion recorded on October 4. They mark a phase of travel after separation from Féli.
The Green Notebook
Plutarch
Plutarch is the Greek moralist whom Traherne names as an authority on superstition.
Centuries of Meditations
Pneumato-meter
Pneumato-mètre names a proposed instrument that would record breathing and make it perceptible to the eye.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Poe, de Maistre, and Chosen Authorities
Poe and de Maistre form an arresting pair in CXI: Baudelaire says they taught him to reason.
Intimate Journals
Poem
Poiēma means poem; a particular composed work.
Lysis
Poet and actor
Poiētēs is a poet or maker, poiētikos poetic or gifted at poetry, and poiēmata things made, here poetic compositions.
Charmides
Poet and metre
Poiētēs means poet; a maker of verse and a source of traditional sayings.
Lysis · Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Poetry
Poiēsis means poetry or poetic composition; the activity of making poems.
Lysis · The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II+1 book
Poetry, riddle and authority
A poet makes and voices verse; a riddling expression conveys something indirectly or obscurely.
Alcibiades II · Theages+1 book
Point and line
Point and line are geometrical objects, yet Joubert repeatedly explains them through fine tips, thread, hair, and the movement between distinct positions.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Point and position
Punctum is a point; situs its position or placement.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Point, line and the comparing power
The point and line are argumentative models for indivisibility and extension.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Point, position and mathematical ascent
Punctum and, in the geometrical example, signum name a point.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Pointland
Pointland is the zero-dimensional world of a single Point.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Pole
Polos can name a celestial pole, but also the revolving sky.
Stobaeus, Volume I
Politeness
Politesse mediates between a person’s character and the people who encounter it.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Political speeches
Politikous is an adjectival accusative with its noun left understood; the translation supplies “political speeches.”
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Polygon
A polygon is a closed plane figure bounded by straight sides.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Pomegranate
The pomegranate is a many-seeded fruit.
Centuries of Meditations · Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Pomp
Pomp is outward splendour, ceremonial display, or worldly magnificence.
Centuries of Meditations
Popular politics
Dēmotikos here characterizes someone as on the people’s side; the longer phrase describes people with popular political sympathies.
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Pore and passage
Poros is a way through something: a passage, channel, or pore.
Stobaeus, Volume I · Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I+1 book
Poseidon
Poseidon is the final divine name in B128's list before the declaration of Cypris' queenship.
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Possession
Κτῆμα means a possession, something acquired or held.
Hipparchus · Centuries of Meditations+1 book
Possession and guidance
Ktēma is a possession, and kektēmenos describes someone who has acquired or possesses something.
Alcibiades II
Possessions of possessions
This is a relational description, not the name of a special class of substances.
Alcibiades I
Books in the Lexicon
October 2026
Plato’s Alcibiades I Lexicon
Alcibiades I · Plato
176 entries · 701 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Alcibiades II Lexicon
Alcibiades II · Plato
94 entries · 290 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Traherne Lexicon
Centuries of Meditations · Thomas Traherne
471 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Charmides Lexicon
Charmides · Plato
173 entries · 777 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Empedocles Lexicon
Empedocles, Volumes I–II · Empedocles of Acragas
490 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Epinomis Lexicon
Epinomis · Plato
77 entries · 1,061 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Flatland Literary Lexicon
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions · Edwin A. Abbott
85 entries · 476 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Khunrath Lexicon
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum · Heinrich Khunrath
326 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Hipparchus Lexicon
Hipparchus · Plato
90 entries · 291 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Baudelaire Literary Lexicon
Intimate Journals · Charles Baudelaire
80 entries · 323 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Lysis Lexicon
Lysis · Plato
239 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I Lexicon
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Marsilio Ficino
231 entries · 1,313 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II Lexicon
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II · Marsilio Ficino
148 entries · 1,398 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Minos Lexicon
Minos · Plato
54 entries · 506 subsidiary terms
October 2026
René Literary Lexicon
René · François-René de Chateaubriand
81 entries · 275 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Stobaeus Lexicon
Stobaeus, Volume I · John Stobaeus
610 entries · 85 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy Lexicon
The Anatomy of Melancholy · Robert Burton
103 entries · 3,864 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Guérin Lexicon
The Green Notebook · Maurice de Guérin
165 entries · 0 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Lovers Lexicon
The Lovers · Plato
83 entries · 361 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Joubert Lexicon
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II · Joseph Joubert
459 entries · 110 subsidiary terms
October 2026
Plato’s Theages Lexicon
Theages · Plato
62 entries · 510 subsidiary terms