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 167 of 174
Book IV · Chapter 2 · §§ 6–9
Latin
p. 336Ergo illud omne quod statim ex Deo est, ipsi similius omnibus his modis est unitum. Is est angelus, qui quamvis prout pendet ex alio mutabilis quodammodo dici possit, tamen quia infinito Dei statui praecipue proximus procreatur in ipsumque convertitur sine medio, stabilis prorsus evadit.
Sequitur secundum omne, quod quia secunda quadam intentione pendet ab uno, unum iam modum unitatis amittit, retinet duos: unum quidem restat essentia atque puncto, sed momentis fit varium. Talis est anima. Tertium omne est materia mundi, quae una substantia est, sed non solum momentis variatur ut anima, sed etiam diffunditur per puncta locorum.
Sed cur in hoc descensu tempus reperitur prius quam locus? Tum quia tempus spiritalis actionis alicuius comes est, locus est comes corporis, ideoque tempus ad spiritum efficaciamque propius quam locus accedit. Tum quia ab unitate in multitudinem gradatim est descendendum. Quotiens vero rei essentia localem multitudinem subit, totiens et operatio eius temporalem patitur numerum, non e converso. Essentia enim operationem unione et perfectione superare potest, contra nequaquam.
Membra denique mundi quaelibet non omne, sed sub omni dicuntur esse. Quapropter angelus continet in se rerum omnium rationes, omnes, inquam, habitu simul et actu. Anima rursus omnes, sed habitu quidem, non actu. Materia omnes quidem potentia, non tamen habitu neque actu, sed per successionem suscipit omnes. Oportet profecto animam ipsam esse quodammodo omnia.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book IV
p. 337Thus the whole that proceeds directly from God is united in all three ways and is more like him. This is the angel. Although the angel may in some sense be called mutable insofar as it depends upon another, it is brought forth especially near to God's infinite stability and turns toward God without any intermediary; it therefore becomes wholly stable.
The second whole follows. Because it depends upon the One at a certain second remove, it now loses one mode of unity but retains two: it remains one in essence and in point, yet varies through moments. Such is soul. The third whole is the matter of the world. It is one substance, but not only varies through moments as soul does; it is also extended through the points of space.
But why, in this descent, is time encountered before place? First, because time is the companion of a spiritual activity, while place is the companion of body; time therefore approaches spirit and efficacy more nearly than place does. Further, the descent from unity into multiplicity must proceed by degrees. Whenever the essence of a thing undergoes multiplicity in place, its operation likewise undergoes number in time—but not conversely. An essence can surpass its operation in unity and perfection; its operation can never surpass its essence.
Finally, each member of the world is said to be not a whole, but beneath the Whole. An angel therefore contains within itself the principles of all things—all of them, I say, at once in possession and in actuality. Soul also contains them all, but in possession rather than actuality. Matter contains them all in potency, though neither in possession nor actuality, and receives them only in succession. Soul itself must therefore be all things in a certain manner.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book IV · IV.2.6–IV.2.9
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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.