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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Latin Page · Branch 152 of 174
Book IV · Chapter 1 · §§ 48–51
Latin
p. 306In prima ratio superat iram. In secunda e converso. In tertia ratio superat concupiscentiam.
In quarta contra. In quinta ira dominatur concupiscentiae. In sexta e converso.
Si in sphaeris mundi duabus extremis duodenarius numerus observatur, observatur in mediis. Quamobrem sicut incepimus paulo ante, plurimas animas in qualibet sphaera viventes ad duodecim principales in eadem viventes sphaera per ordinem reducamus. Accipiamus iterum duodecim principes in una quavis sphaerarum duodecim; tot enim apud priscos sunt sphaerae mundi. Referamus illas ad duodecim animas illarum sphaerarum communes. Duodecim rursus sphaerarum animas ad unam ipsius unius materiae animam.
Quoniam vero anima est mentis particeps et super naturam participem oportet esse naturam per se plenam, ideo animarum genus ad mentes extollitur liberas, mentesque tandem ad unam mentem. Et una mens, quia et mens est et unum, ad unum simpliciter est erigenda, quod non sit unum hoc aut unum illud, ceu vel una mens vel una anima, sed unum ipsum, quod vocat Pythagoras universalem Apollinem. Vult enim Ἀπόλλωνα dici quasi ἁπλοῦν, quod significat simplicem, et quasi ἀπὸ πολλῶν, quod significat semotum a multitudine. Idem vocat τἀγαθόν, id est ipsum bonum, quoniam bonitas et perfectio cuiusque in eius unitate consistit, ut si in rebus idem est bonitas atque unio, supra res quoque idem sit ipsum primum unum primumque bonum.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book IV
p. 307In the first, reason surpasses anger; in the second, the reverse; in the third, reason surpasses desire.
In the fourth, the reverse; in the fifth, anger rules over desire; in the sixth, the reverse.
If the number twelve is observed in the two outermost spheres of the world, it is observed in the intermediate spheres as well. Therefore, as we began a little earlier, let us bring the many souls living in each sphere, rank by rank, back to twelve principal souls living in that same sphere. Let us again take twelve rulers in each one of the twelve spheres—for among the ancients there are that many spheres of the world—and refer them to the twelve common souls of those spheres. Let us refer the twelve souls of the spheres in turn to the one soul of the one matter itself.
Since soul participates in mind, and above a nature that participates there must be a nature full in itself, the order of souls is therefore raised to free minds, and minds at last to one mind. And because the one mind is both mind and one, it must be raised to the One without qualification—not this one or that one, such as one mind or one soul, but the One itself, which Pythagoras calls the universal Apollo. For he wishes Ἀπόλλωνα, ‘Apollo,’ to be understood as though from ἁπλοῦν, which signifies ‘simple,’ and as though from ἀπὸ πολλῶν, which signifies ‘removed from the many.’ He also calls it τἀγαθόν, that is, the Good itself, because the goodness and perfection of each thing consists in its unity. Thus, if goodness and union are the same in things, above things too the first One and the first Good are the same.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book IV · IV.1.48–IV.1.51
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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.