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 143 of 174
Book IV · Chapter 1 · §§ 12–15
Latin
p. 288Quid artificium? Mens artificis in materia separata. Quid naturae opus? Naturae mens in coniuncta materia. Tanto igitur huius operis ordo similior est ordini qui in arte est naturali quam ordo artificii hominis arti, quanto et materia propinquior est naturae quam homini et natura magis quam homo materiae dominatur. Ergo dubitabis certorum operum certas in natura ponere rationes?
Immo vero sicut ars humana, quia superficiem tangit materiae et per contingentes fabricat rationes, formas similiter solum efficit contingentes, sic naturalem artem, quia formas gignit sive eruit substantiales ex materiae fundo, constat funditus operari per rationes essentiales atque perpetuas.
Plurimae animantes tum in terra tum in aqua sola putrefactione nascuntur absque ullo semine corporali. Quamplurimae ex seminibus procul iactis ab animali diu postea, partim fomento quodam extraneo accedente, partim sine manifesto fomento pullulant. Herbae omnes arboresque, quamquam vel serendo vel plantando quotidie propagantur, tamen quotidie multis in locis absque semine vel germine corporali sponte nascuntur, ut omittam quod multi philosophi post aquarum miranda diluvia etiam animalia perfectiora ex terra existimant procreari.
Oportet tamen certa quaedam ex certis quibusdam seminibus exoriri, et quae ex potentia in actum transeunt per causam quandam in actum perduci talem, quae ipsa iam in se talem vel aequalem vel praestantiorem habeat actum.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book IV
p. 289What is an artifact? The mind of the craftsman in matter separated from him. What is a work of nature? The mind of nature in matter joined to it. The order of this natural work therefore resembles the order inherent in natural art more closely than an artifact resembles human art, in the same degree that matter lies nearer to nature than to man and nature commands matter more fully than man does. Will you then doubt that nature contains definite principles of definite works?
Indeed, just as human art, because it touches the surface of matter and fashions through contingent principles, likewise produces only contingent forms, so natural art, because it generates or draws substantial forms from the depths of matter, plainly works at the deepest level through essential and everlasting principles.
Many living creatures, both on land and in water, are born from putrefaction alone, without any bodily seed. Very many spring up long afterward from seeds cast far away by an animal, sometimes when some external fostering influence intervenes, sometimes without any evident fostering influence. All plants and trees, although they are propagated daily by sowing or planting, nevertheless arise spontaneously each day in many places without bodily seed or shoot—not to mention that many philosophers believe even more perfect animals to be brought forth from the earth after wondrous floods.
Yet certain things must arise from certain seeds, and whatever passes from potency into act must be brought into act by a cause of such a kind that it already possesses within itself an act of that kind, or an equal or more excellent one.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book IV · IV.1.12–IV.1.15
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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.