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 154 of 174
Book IV · Chapter 1 · §§ 55–57
Latin
p. 310Sed quaenam illa principia sunt? Num qualitates aliquae? Puta sicut gravitate et levitate partes elementorum moveri videntur atque calore operari et frigore, ita mundi sphaerae per qualitates huiusmodi revolvuntur? Nequaquam. Qualitas enim, quia situ et partibus terminata est atque uni cuidam est addicta materiae, agit etiam terminate, fatigaturque ut nequeat aut semper aut eodem modo movere, et quaelibet qualitas unicum opus agit et ad unicum movet terminum.
Quid calor agit nisi calorem, frigus frigiditatem? Levitas sursum trahit solum, gravitas vero deorsum. Numquam igitur qualitas contrarium aliquem effectum principalis sui operis faciet natura sua; numquam ad locum unde discessit sponte redibit; numquam inde discedet sponte quo se naturaliter contulit. Caelum autem movetur semper et aequaliter, variosque et inter se contrarios producit effectus atque ad hanc diversitatem contrariis modis materiam disponit inferiorem. Figurationes varias inducit nec ullum habet certum in suo circuitu terminum. Sed quodcumque signaveris punctum super caeli dorsum, ad illud innumere quaelibet caeli pars accedet, rursusque recedet facillime non per aliquam violentiam. Quod enim est violentum neque diuturnum est neque semper idem et ordinatum. Adde quod cum caelum contrariis simul motibus revolvatur, si qualitate duceretur, certe contrariis qualitatibus moveretur. Non tamen illic esse possunt contrariae qualitates atque naturae, ubi nulla est pugna, nullus interitus. Item cum natura determinata sit ideoque non queat indeterminatum diversumque finem, qualis est motus, appetere, quietis gratia tantum movet; motus autem circularis secundum se non dirigitur ad quietem. Ergo neque a natura agitur, neque si quando quiescat sistitur a natura.
Praeterea qualitas extensa in corpore in se ipsam reflecti non valet, cum sit corpori alligata. Quonam igitur pacto dabit qualitas caelo revolutionem in semet ipsum, quae in se non habet sui ipsius reflectendae virtutem?
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book IV
p. 311But what are those principles? Are they certain qualities? Shall we suppose that, just as the parts of the elements seem to be moved by heaviness and lightness and to act through heat and cold, so the spheres of the world revolve through qualities of this kind? By no means. A quality, because it is bounded by position and parts and bound to one particular matter, also acts within limits; it grows weary, so that it cannot move either forever or always in the same way. Every quality performs one work and moves toward one terminus.
What does heat produce except heat, or cold except coldness? Lightness draws only upward, heaviness downward. Never, therefore, will a quality by its own nature produce an effect contrary to its principal operation; never will it return of its own accord to the place from which it departed; never will it of its own accord leave the place to which it naturally moved. Heaven, however, moves always and uniformly, produces effects that are various and mutually contrary, and disposes lower matter in contrary ways for this diversity. It introduces various configurations and has no fixed terminus in its circuit. Mark any point you wish upon heaven's back: every part of heaven will approach that point innumerable times and then recede from it again with the greatest ease, not through any violence. What is violent is neither lasting nor always uniform and ordered. Add that, since heaven revolves with contrary motions at once, if it were led by quality it would surely be moved by contrary qualities. Yet contrary qualities and natures cannot exist where there is no conflict and no destruction. Again, since nature is determinate and therefore cannot seek an indeterminate and diverse end, such as motion is, it moves only for the sake of rest; but circular motion does not of itself tend toward rest. It is therefore neither produced by nature nor, if it should ever come to rest, stopped by nature.
Moreover, a quality extended in a body cannot turn back upon itself, since it is bound to the body. How, then, will a quality give heaven a revolution back into itself when it does not possess within itself the power of turning back upon itself?
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book IV · IV.1.55–IV.1.57
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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.