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 83 of 174
Book II · Chapter 9 · §§ 10–13
Latin
p. 168Quis proprium divinae mentis obiectum posuerit extra Deum, cum nulla virtus obiectum suum excedere valeat;
Deus autem excedat omnia immensum.
Cum Deo intellectus et intelligentiae nomen tribuimus, sic accipiendum est ut huiusmodi appellationes secundum causam potius quam per formam intelligantur. Proprie namque angelum mentem esse putamus.
Deum vero supra mentium genus, ita ut mens sit mentium lumenque luminum. Intelligit vero Deus quicquid intelligit modo quodam super intelligentiam; atque, ut ad rem nostram veniamus, intelligit singula. Nam quicquid intellectus agit, sua agit natura, atque ita agit intelligendo. Ergo quaecumque facit intelligit, quod patet in artibus et consiliis. Cum ergo Deus per esse suum agat, idque esse non careat intellectu, immo vero esse et intelligere propter summam Dei simplicitatem idem sit, oportet ut operetur intelligendo. Eatenus vero cognitio eius extenditur quatenus operatio, cum in Deo simplicissimo sit voluntaria cognitio et operatio idem. Operatio per omnia usque ad res extenditur minimas.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 169Who would place the proper object of the divine mind outside God, when no power can exceed its object?
Yet God exceeds all things beyond measure.
When we attribute the terms intellect and intelligence to God, designations of this kind must be understood in respect of cause rather than form. For we hold that an angel is properly a mind.
God, however, we hold to be above the genus of minds, so that he is the mind of minds and light of lights. God understands whatever he understands in a mode above intelligence; and, to come to our present concern, he understands individual things. For whatever intellect does, it does by its own nature, and thus it acts by understanding. It therefore understands whatever it makes, as is evident in arts and plans. Since God, then, acts through his being, and that being does not lack intellect—indeed, since being and understanding are the same because of God’s supreme simplicity—he must act by understanding. His cognition extends as far as his operation, since in the utterly simple God voluntary cognition and operation are the same. His operation extends through all things down to the least.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.9.10–II.9.13
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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.