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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English Page · Branch 6 of 174
Book I · Chapter 1 · §§ 1–4
Latin
p. 14Si animus non esset immortalis, nullum animal esset infelicius homine.
Cum genus humanum propter inquietudinem animi, imbecillitatemque corporis et rerum omnium indigentiam, duriorem quam bestiae vitam agat in terris, si terminum vivendi natura illi eundem penitus atque ceteris animantibus tribuisset, nullum animal esset infelicius homine. Quoniam vero fieri nequit ut homo, qui Dei cultu propius cunctis mortalibus accedit ad Deum beatitudinis auctorem, omnino sit omnium infelicissimus, solum autem post mortem corporis beatior effici potest, necessarium esse videtur animis nostris ab hoc carcere discedentibus lucem aliquam superesse.
At si lucem suam humanae mentes nequaquam respiciunt, clausae tenebris et carcere caeco, unde saepenumero cogimur propriae divinitati diffidere, solvamus, obsecro, caelestes animi caelestis patriae cupidi, solvamus quamprimum vincula compedum terrenarum, ut alis sublati Platonicis ac Deo duce in sedem aetheream liberius pervolemus, ubi statim nostri generis excellentiam feliciter contemplabimur.
Ceterum, ut evidenter appareat qua ratione potissimum mentes hominum mortalia claustra resolvere, immortalitatem suam cernere, beatitudinem attingere valeant, conabimur sequenti disputatione pro viribus demonstrare: praeter pigram hanc molem corporum, qua Democritiorum, Cyrenaicorum, Epicureorum consideratio finiebatur, esse efficacem qualitatem aliquam atque virtutem, ad quam Stoicorum Cynicorumque investigatio sese contulit.
Supra qualitatem vero, quae cum materiae dimensione dividitur et mutatur omnino, formam quandam praestantiorem exsistere, quae licet mutetur quodammodo, divisionem tamen in corpore non admittit. In ea forma rationalis animae sedem veteres theologi posuere. Hucusque Heraclitus, Marcus Varro, Marcusque Manilius ascenderunt.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book I
p. 15If the soul were not immortal, no animal would be more miserable than man.
Because man's soul is restless, his body is frail, and he stands in need of everything, the life he leads on earth is harsher than that of the beasts. If Nature had allotted him precisely the same end of life as the other living creatures, no animal would be more miserable than man. Yet it cannot be that man, who through the worship of God draws nearer to God, the author of blessedness, than every other mortal being, should be utterly the most miserable of all. Since, however, man can become more blessed only after the body's death, it seems necessary that some light remain for our souls when they depart from this prison.
But if human minds, enclosed within darkness and a blind prison, do not turn their gaze at all toward their own light, and so we are very often forced to distrust our own divine nature, then let us, I implore you, heavenly souls yearning for the heavenly homeland, let us loosen the bonds of our earthly fetters as swiftly as we can, so that, borne upward on Platonic wings and with God as our guide, we may fly more freely into the ethereal dwelling, where at once we shall joyfully contemplate the excellence of our kind.
Furthermore, to make it plainly clear how the minds of men may best break free of their mortal prison, perceive their own immortality, and attain blessedness, we shall attempt in the argument that follows, to the best of our ability, to demonstrate that beyond this inert bulk of bodies, to which the inquiry of the followers of Democritus, the Cyrenaics, and the Epicureans was confined, there exists an effective quality and power, toward which the investigation of the Stoics and Cynics turned.
Above quality, however—which is divided along with the dimensions of matter and undergoes change in every way—we shall show that there exists a certain more excellent form. Though it changes in a certain fashion, this form admits no division within the body. In it the ancient theologians placed the seat of the rational soul. Heraclitus, Marcus Varro, and Marcus Manilius ascended this far.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book I · I.1.1–I.1.4
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
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.