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 28 of 174
Book I · Chapter 4 · §§ 4–5
Latin
p. 58Quid ergo dicemus? An istam quoque substantiam omnino mobilem asseremus? Minime. Nam vel esset in genere corporalium qualitatum. In eo tamen genere sistere gradum non possumus. Vel causa quae in genere superiore locatur effectum suum sufficienti perfectione non excederet, si substantia quae qualitatis est causa non minus quam qualitas vacillaret. Quocirca substantia illa partim stat, partim vero movetur.
Tria quidem in se habet et ipsa: essentiam, virtutem, operationem. Quid horum stabit? Quid movebitur? Operatio quidem stare non potest, si duo praecedentia permutentur. Neque moveri essentia quin sequentia moveantur. Stabit ergo primum, scilicet ipsa essentia. Mutabitur ultimum, videlicet operatio. Sed medium utrorumque, virtus, quid? Stabit et ipsa partim; partim quoque mutabitur.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book I
p. 59What, then, shall we say? Shall we declare that this substance too is wholly mobile? By no means. For then it would either belong to the class of corporeal qualities, though we cannot halt at that level, or else a cause situated in a higher class would not sufficiently surpass its effect in perfection if the substance that causes quality vacillated no less than quality itself. This substance therefore partly stands and partly moves.
It too has three things within itself: essence, power, and operation. Which of them will stand? Which will move? Operation cannot remain stable if the two things preceding it are changed. Nor can essence be moved without the things that follow it being moved. The first, therefore—essence itself—will stand; the last, namely operation, will change. But what of power, the middle between the two? It too will partly stand and partly change.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book I · I.4.4–I.4.5
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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.