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 3 of 174
Proem · §§ 6–9
Latin
p. 8In quibus universa consistit rerum perceptio et omnis institutio vitae totaque felicitas, praesertim cum Plato de his ita sentiat ut Aurelius Augustinus eum tamquam Christianae veritati omnium proximum ex omni philosophorum numero elegerit imitandum, asserueritque Platonicos, mutatis paucis, Christianos fore.
Ego vero, cum iampridem Aureliana auctoritate fretus summaque in genus humanum caritate adductus Platonis ipsius simulacrum quoddam Christianae veritati simillimum exprimere statuissem, ad illa quae dixi duo prae ceteris diligenter incubui; ideoque universum opus Platonicam Theologiam de immortalitate animorum inscribendum esse censui. In quo quidem componendo id praecipue consilium fuit, ut in ipsa creatae mentis divinitate, ceu speculo rerum omnium medio, creatoris ipsius tum opera speculemur, tum mentem contemplemur atque colamus.
Reor autem—nec vana fides—hoc providentia divina decretum, ut et perversa multorum ingenia, quae soli divinae legis auctoritati haud facile cedunt, Platonicis saltem rationibus religioni admodum suffragantibus acquiescant, et quicumque philosophiae studium impie nimium a sancta religione seiungunt agnoscant aliquando se non aliter aberrare quam si quis vel amorem sapientiae a sapientiae ipsius honore vel intelligentiam veram a recta voluntate disiunxerit.
Denique, ut qui ea solum cogitant quae circa corpora sentiuntur rerumque ipsarum umbras rebus veris infeliciter praeferunt, Platonica tandem ratione commoniti et praeter sensum sublimia contemplentur et res ipsas umbris feliciter anteponant.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Proem
p. 9Upon these rest the whole apprehension of things, the entire ordering of life, and all happiness—especially since Plato's views on them are such that Augustine chose him, from the whole company of philosophers, as nearest of all to Christian truth and the one to be imitated, and declared that, with a few changes, the Platonists would be Christians.
For my part, having long relied upon Augustine's authority and been moved by the greatest charity toward the human race, I resolved to fashion a certain likeness of Plato himself as close as possible to Christian truth. I therefore devoted myself with special care to the two matters just mentioned, and judged that the entire work should be entitled Platonic Theology on the Immortality of Souls. In composing it, my principal design was that, in the very divinity of the created mind—as in a mirror set at the center of all things—we might behold the Creator's works, contemplate his mind, and worship him.
I believe—and this faith is not vain—that divine providence has decreed this: that the perverse minds of many, which do not readily yield to the authority of divine law alone, may at least assent to Platonic arguments that lend powerful support to religion; and that those who impiously separate the study of philosophy too far from holy religion may one day recognize that they are no less in error than one who would sever either the love of wisdom from the honor due to wisdom itself, or true understanding from a right will.
Finally, this too has been decreed: that those who think only of what is perceived in the realm of bodies, and who unhappily prefer the shadows of things themselves to true realities, may at last, admonished by Platonic reason, contemplate sublime things beyond sense and happily set realities themselves above their shadows.
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Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Proem · Proem.6–Proem.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.