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 173 of 174
Book IV · Chapter 2 · §§ 24–26
Latin
p. 348Si stare quis caelum velit, figat ipsum Saturni caelum in cardine quandocumque lubet. Tunc semicirculus ipsius sphaerae alter super caput nostrum sistat, alter super caput Antipodum. Cum vero partes omnes huius sphaerae sine ulla naturae discrepantia inter se simillimae sint, nulla est ratio per quam alia pars hic sit magis, illic alia. Ergo inferior semicirculus, quia cum loco nostro aeque convenit ac cum regione Antipodum, ita nitetur hic esse sicut ibi; et superior semicirculus propter eandem convenientiam ad locum illum contendet esse illic sicut et hic erat.
Ex hoc nixu pars altera pellet alteram, dum quaelibet pars propter aequalem convenientiam volet ubique pariter esse. Est utique octavae sphaerae concava superficies locus naturalis sphaerae Saturni. Ibi devexum Saturni sphaerae concavum tangit octavae. Quaelibet particula huius sphaerae quia aeque convenit cum qualibet octavae particula omnes affectat particulas illius attingere. Si quiescat, singulae tangent singulas, non quaelibet cunctas. Currendo autem ferme assequitur quod assequi quiescendo non poterat: tanta est huius sphaerae ad illa aviditas. Praeterea sphaerae Saturni anima tota simul est in quibuslibet sphaerae punctis. Sphaera haec, animae fruendae cupida, ideo currit, ut per omnes sui partes ubique tota anima perfruatur. Advolat rapidissime, ut, quoad fieri potest, ubique sit tota simul, ubicumque tota simul est anima.
Et quia nusquam reperit stantem animam, quiescit et ipsa nusquam. Et sicut anima assidue circa Deum quasi centrum convolvitur, ita corpus tractum ab illa semper circum animam revolvitur quasi centrum. Stat autem in eodem cardine caelum, quia et anima propter mentis participationem quietis alicuius est particeps. Id agunt omnes rationales animae in corporibus suis. Id omnia corpora agunt ad animas, sive de sphaerarum ac siderum animis loquamur, seu daemonum atque hominum. Quod si minus in nostro hoc crasso corpore apparet, sit tamen in aethereo animae indumento, de quo disputabimus alias.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book IV
p. 349If anyone wishes to make heaven stand still, let him fix Saturn's heaven upon its axis whenever he pleases. Then let one half of its sphere stand above our heads and the other above the heads of the Antipodes. Since every part of this sphere is perfectly like every other, with no difference of nature among them, there is no reason why one part rather than another should be here or there. The lower hemisphere, being equally suited to our place and to the region of the Antipodes, will strive to be here just as it is there; and the upper hemisphere, by the same affinity for the other place, will strive to be there just as it was here.
From this striving one part will drive another, since every part, by reason of its equal affinity, will desire to be equally present everywhere. The concave surface of the eighth sphere is, of course, the natural place of the sphere of Saturn. There the outer surface of Saturn's sphere touches the concave surface of the eighth. Because every particle of the former sphere corresponds equally to every particle of the eighth, each desires to touch all the particles of the latter. If the sphere rests, individual parts will touch individual parts, but not each part all. By coursing around, however, it nearly attains what it could not attain at rest—so great is this sphere's desire for all those parts. Moreover, Saturn's soul is wholly present at once in every point of its sphere. Longing to enjoy its soul, the sphere therefore hastens onward, so that in all its parts it may everywhere enjoy the whole soul. It flies with the greatest speed so that, as far as possible, it may be wholly present everywhere at once, wherever the soul is wholly present at once.
And because it nowhere finds the soul at rest, it too rests nowhere. Just as the soul continually circles around God as its center, so the body, drawn by soul, continually revolves around the soul as its center. Heaven nevertheless remains fixed upon the same axis, because soul, by participating in mind, also shares in a certain repose. All rational souls act thus in their bodies, and all bodies act thus in relation to souls, whether we speak of the souls of spheres and stars or of daemons and men. Even if this appears less clearly in our gross body, it is nevertheless present in the ethereal garment of soul, of which we shall speak elsewhere.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book IV · IV.2.24–IV.2.26
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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.