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 161 of 174
Book IV · Chapter 1 · §§ 81–84
Latin
p. 324Merito cum lateat, ut plerique disputant, in omnibus sphaeris una prima et informis per se materia, una illius est anima.
Quidnam in causa est quod licet contraria inter se sint mundi membra, in unum tamen conspirant et alia aliis vires suas communicant, nisi quia una anima huius ingentis animalis humores quamvis diversos contemperat ac membra per situm seiuncta et qualitatem vitae et motus conspiratione continuat? Undenam fit ut inferiora nutus sequantur superiorum et omnia mundi membra, ut ita loquar, compatiantur invicem, nisi ab una communi natura? Una vero natura ab una fit anima.
Neque minus unitum esse oportet divinum hoc animal quam sit quodvis aliud animal, siquidem est omnium potentissimum. Ergo si inter cetera animalia quodlibet corpus per unam quandam suam animam gubernatur, multo magis mundani huius animalis membra per unam animam vinciuntur. Quae si ita se habet ad corpus suum sicut nostra ad nostrum, non aliter ipsa in qualibet mundi parte est tota quam anima nostra tota in qualibet nostri corporis parte. Alioquin non posset universum perfecte connectere, vivificare, movere. Sicuti se habet natura ad corpus, sic anima ad naturam. Ergo quemadmodum in universo corpore natura universalis est ubique, ita in universa natura ubique universalis est anima.
Quod autem sphaerarum animae sint rationales, ostendit dispositio motuum mundanorum, semper ad id quod est melius et pulchrius proficiscens. Sicut enim motus tam velox, liber et diuturnus ab intima vita fit, sic tam mirabilis ordo movendi tamque artificiosa progressio a sapientissima quadam arte ipsius vitae procedit. Nam quod sphaeras ad idem semper per eadem dirigit, non necessitas quaedam est vita carens, ut vulgo videtur, sed ars integra et sapientia felix, quae quoniam non errat in consultando, quemadmodum mortales solent, motu et opere non vagatur.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book IV
p. 325Accordingly, since one primary matter, formless in itself, lies hidden in all the spheres—as most maintain—it is fitting that this matter should have one soul.
What causes the members of the world, although contrary to one another, nevertheless to conspire in unity and communicate their powers one to another, if not the single soul of this vast living creature, which tempers its humors however diverse and binds members separated in place and quality through a shared harmony of life and motion? Whence comes it that lower things obey the commands of higher things and that all the members of the world, so to speak, are in sympathy with one another, if not from one common nature? And one nature in turn arises from one soul.
Nor ought this divine living being to be less united than any other, since it is the most powerful of all. If every body among other living creatures is governed by a single soul of its own, then far more must the members of this living world be bound together by one soul. If that soul stands to its body as ours stands to ours, then it is wholly present in every part of the world, just as our soul is wholly present in every part of our body. Otherwise it could not bind, give life to, and move the whole perfectly. As nature stands to body, so soul stands to nature. Therefore, just as universal nature is everywhere in the universal body, so universal soul is everywhere in universal nature.
That the souls of the spheres are rational is shown by the ordered course of the world's motions, which always advances toward what is better and more beautiful. Just as motion so swift, free, and enduring springs from an inward life, so its wondrous order of movement and artful progression proceed from a supremely wise art belonging to life itself. What directs the spheres always to the same end by the same paths is not, as commonly supposed, some lifeless necessity, but consummate art and blessed wisdom. Because this wisdom does not err in deliberation as mortals do, neither its motion nor its work goes astray.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book IV · IV.1.81–IV.1.84
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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.