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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Latin Page · Branch 2 of 174
Proem · §§ 1–5
Latin
p. 6Plato philosophorum pater, magnanime Laurenti, cum intelligeret quemadmodum se habet visus ad solis lumen, ita se habere mentes omnes ad Deum, ideoque eas nihil umquam sine Dei lumine posse cognoscere, merito iustum piumque censuit ut mens humana, sicut a Deo habet omnia, sic ad Deum omnia referat.
Igitur sive circa mores philosophemur, animum esse purgandum, ut tandem factus serenior divinum percipiat lumen Deumque colat.
Sive rerum causas perscrutemur, causas esse quaerendas, ut ipsam denique causarum causam inveniamus inventamque veneremur. Neque solum ad id pietatis officium Plato noster ceteros adhortatur, verum etiam ipse maxime praestat. Quo factum est ut et ipse sine controversia divinus et doctrina eius apud omnes gentes Theologia nuncuparetur, cum nihil usquam, sive morale sive dialecticum aut mathematicum aut physicum, tractet quin mox ad contemplationem cultumque Dei summa cum pietate reducat.
Quoniam vero animum esse tamquam speculum arbitratur, in quo facile divini vultus imago reluceat, idcirco, dum per vestigia singula Deum ipsum diligenter indagat, in animi speciem ubique divertit, intelligens oraculum illud, ‘Nosce te ipsum,’ id potissimum admonere, ut quicumque Deum optat agnoscere se ipsum ante cognoscat.
Quam ob rem quisquis Platonica, quae iamdiu omnia Latina feci, diligentissime legerit, consequetur quidem cuncta, sed duo haec ex omnibus potissima: et pium cogniti Dei cultum et animorum divinitatem.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Proem
p. 7Plato, father of philosophers, magnanimous Lorenzo, understood that all minds stand to God as sight stands to the light of the sun, and therefore that they can never know anything without God's light. He rightly judged it just and pious that, as the human mind receives all things from God, so it should direct all things back to God.
Thus, if we philosophize about conduct, the soul must be purified, so that at last, made more serene, it may perceive the divine light and worship God.
Or, if we investigate the causes of things, causes must be sought until at last we find the very cause of causes and, once it is found, venerate it. Our Plato not only exhorts others to this duty of piety; he himself fulfills it above all. The result was that he was called divine beyond dispute, and his teaching was called Theology among all peoples. For nowhere does he treat any subject—whether moral, dialectical, mathematical, or natural—without at once leading it back, with the highest piety, to the contemplation and worship of God.
Moreover, since Plato holds the soul to be like a mirror in which the image of the divine countenance readily shines, as he diligently searches for God himself through every trace, he turns at every point toward the form of the soul. He understands the oracle ‘Know thyself’ chiefly to give this warning: whoever desires to know God must first know himself.
Therefore, whoever reads with the greatest care the Platonic works—all of which I translated into Latin long ago—will indeed gain everything, but above all these two things: the pious worship of God once he is known, and the divinity of souls.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Proem · Proem.1–Proem.5
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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.