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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Facing Pages · Branch 131 of 174
Book III · Chapter 2 · §§ 5–7
Latin
p. 264Ceteras vero sphaeras in aeternitate simul et tempore; composita denique in tempore tantum. Similiter quoque puros intellectus in gradu primo, sed intellectus animales in secundo.
Tandem animas corporales in tertio. Verum, ut ad propositum revertamur, omne opus quod constat ex pluribus tunc est perfectissimum quando ita ex suis membris conglutinatur, ut unum fiat undique, sibi constet et consonet, neque facile dissipetur. Quod liquido in quattuor elementorum temperamento corporalis natura demonstrat, ubi terra et ignis longe distantes per aerem copulantur et aquam.
Multo magis in universo Dei opere connexio partium est ponenda, ut unius Dei unum quoque sit opus. Deus et corpus extrema sunt in natura et invicem diversissima.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book III
p. 265They place the other spheres at once in eternity and in time, and composite things, finally, in time alone. In like manner they place pure intellects at the first level, but ensouled intellects at the second.
Finally, they place embodied souls at the third level. But to return to our purpose: every work composed of many things is most perfect when its members are so joined that it becomes wholly one, holds together and harmonizes with itself, and is not easily dispersed. Bodily nature shows this plainly in the blending of the four elements, where earth and fire, far apart from one another, are linked through air and water.
Far more, then, must a connection among the parts be posited in the whole work of God, so that the work of the one God may itself be one. God and body are the extremes within nature, and they differ from one another utterly.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book III · III.2.5–III.2.7
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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.