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 163 of 174
Book IV · Chapter 1 · §§ 88–91
Latin
p. 328Caelestes sphaeras habere animas non modo Platonici, sed omnes etiam Peripatetici confitentur, quod Aristoteles docet libro de caelo secundo, rursus VII et VIII naturalium, secundo de anima, XI divinorum. Theophrastus etiam, discipulus Aristotelis, libro de caelo. Quod Avicenna et Algazeles summopere confirmarunt. Augustinus Aurelius in libro Enchiridion et Thomas Aquinas in libro contra Gentiles secundo tradunt nihil, quantum ad Christianam doctrinam spectat, interesse caelestia corpora animas habere vel non habere.
Sphaeras autem elementorum vivere, etsi plane constat apud Platonicos, de his tamen Peripatetici veteres nihil disseruerunt. Recentiores autem nonnulli ambigunt quia elementa videantur compositorum gratia instituta fuisse atque esse tanto compositis viliora quanto sunt propinquiora materiae.
Sed ad haec Platonici respondebunt integras quidem elementorum sphaeras totius mundi gratia institutas fuisse, non gratia huius compositi vel illius.
Particulas autem elementorum, quae et segregantur ab elementi totius integritate et miscentur in hoc aut illo composito corpore, corpusculi talis causa commisceri. Et quamvis harum particularum qualitates sint primae materiae proximae, integra tamen elementa, quia in ordine principalium mundi membrorum connumerantur, valde propinqua sunt tum mundi totius formae, tum summi opificis exemplari universo atque proposito, tum divinis caelestium mentium sphaerarumque influxibus, qui in particulas et corpuscula mixta non aliter quam per integra defluunt elementa. Atque hoc pacto elementorum globi digna receptacula fiunt rationalium animarum.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book IV
p. 329Not only the Platonists but all the Peripatetics also acknowledge that the heavenly spheres possess souls. Aristotle teaches this in the second book of *On Heaven*, again in books seven and eight of his works on nature, in the second book of *On the Soul*, and in the eleventh book of his divine philosophy. Theophrastus too, Aristotle's disciple, teaches it in his book on heaven; and Avicenna and Algazeles strongly confirmed it. Augustine, in the *Enchiridion*, and Thomas Aquinas, in the second book *Against the Gentiles*, teach that, so far as Christian doctrine is concerned, it makes no difference whether the heavenly bodies possess souls or not.
Although the Platonists regard it as entirely settled that the spheres of the elements are alive, the ancient Peripatetics said nothing on the matter. Some of the more recent Peripatetics are doubtful, because the elements seem to have been established for the sake of composite things and to be baser than such things in proportion as they lie nearer to matter.
To this the Platonists will reply that the complete spheres of the elements were indeed established for the sake of the whole world, not for the sake of this composite body or that.
They will add that particles of the elements, severed from the integrity of a whole element and mingled in this or that composite body, are mixed for the sake of such a little body. Although the qualities of these particles lie very near to prime matter, the complete elements are numbered among the principal members of the world. They therefore stand very near both to the form of the whole world and to the universal exemplar and design of the supreme maker, as well as to the divine influxes of heavenly minds and spheres—influxes that descend into particles and mixed bodies only through the complete elements. In this way the elemental globes become worthy receptacles of rational souls.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book IV · IV.1.88–IV.1.91
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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.