Diotimos Library · Renaissance Collection · Bilingual Edition
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Proem and Books I–IV · Latin with an independent English translation
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
English Page · Branch 56 of 174
Book II · Chapter 2 · § 15
Latin
p. 114Quorum alter sit bonorum omnium auctor, alter vero malorum. Nam sicut Deus qui bonorum est auctor summum bonum est, mali totius expers, ita contrarius summum malum, omni bono privatum. Hic igitur neque aget quicquam neque cognoscet, neque vivet, neque erit omnino, siquidem esse, vivere, cognoscere, bona expetendaque sunt.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 115Of these, one is said to be the author of all goods, the other of evils. For just as the God who is the author of goods is the supreme good, devoid of every evil, so his contrary is the supreme evil, deprived of every good. This latter, therefore, will neither do anything nor know, neither live nor exist at all, since being, living, and knowing are good and desirable.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.2.15
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.