Diotimos Library · Renaissance Collection · Bilingual Edition
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Proem and Books I–IV · Latin with an independent English translation
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English Page · Branch 48 of 174
Book II · Chapter 1 · §§ 1–2
Latin
p. 98Unitas, veritas, bonitas idem sunt, et super ea nihil est.
Tribus iam argumentis ostendimus esse aliquid super angelum. Primo quidem esse monstravimus super ipsum simplicissimam unitatem; secundo veritatem; tertio bonitatem. Tria haec unum sunt. Nihil enim aliud est summa unitas quam summa simplicitas. Propter hanc unitatis simplicitatem res quaelibet pura veraque est. Verum quippe vinum est quod purum est vinum. Sic veritas rerum in simplici illa unitate consistit. Atque propter eandem simplicem puramque unitatem res quaelibet sunt bonae. Quodlibet enim tunc se habet bene, quando sibi ipsi atque principio suo unitum est, purumque manet neque rebus deterioribus commiscetur. Ac si in rebus circa idem consistit unitas rerum, veritasque et bonitas, merito super ipsas idem est primum ipsum unum, verumque et bonum.
Quod si in iis sit rerum principium, illud argumento est, quod horum vestigia in cunctis reperiuntur, quasi ab his cuncta manaverint, et omnia haec cupiunt, utpote quae suum principium repetunt. Singula enim unitatis, veritatis, bonitatis et participia sunt et avida. Super unitatem nihil est aliud, quia nihil est unitate potentius.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 99Unity, truth, and goodness are the same, and above them there is nothing.
By three arguments we have now shown that there is something above the angel. First, we showed that above it stands the most simple unity; second, truth; third, goodness. These three are one. For supreme unity is nothing other than supreme simplicity. Because of this simplicity of unity, each thing is pure and true. True wine, after all, is wine that is pure. Thus the truth of things consists in that simple unity. And by reason of the same simple and pure unity all things are good. A thing is well disposed when it is united with itself and with its principle, remains pure, and is not mingled with inferior things. If, then, in things their unity, truth, and goodness all consist in the same, rightly above them stands one and the same first One, True, and Good.
That the principle of things lies in these is shown by the following argument: traces of them are found in all things, as though all had flowed from them; and all things desire them, because they seek again their own principle. For each thing participates in unity, truth, and goodness, and yearns for them. Nothing stands above unity, because nothing is more powerful than unity.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.1.1–II.1.2
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology places the immortality of the soul at the center of an extended philosophical ascent through body, soul, angel, and God. This exact page-aligned Renaissance edition presents the authorial Proem and Books I–IV in a newly established Latin reading text with an independent English translation prepared by Diotimos Editions.
Historical Text and Translation
The Latin reading text is based on the Florence editio princeps printed by Antonio Miscomini on 7 November 1482 and principally collated against the Paris 1559 printing, with a 1641 Opera printing used only as a late control and OCR aid. Abbreviations are expanded, spelling and punctuation are conservatively normalized, and substantive departures among the witnesses are documented in the edition’s apparatus.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independently worded English translation in house. It aims for a dignified but readable modern register while preserving Ficino’s argumentative sequence, metaphors, technical distinctions, repetitions, conditions, purpose clauses, and direct appeals; long periods are divided only where clarity requires it.
Rights
Ficino’s Latin source work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos.