Diotimos Library · Renaissance Collection · Bilingual Edition
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Proem and Books I–IV · Latin with an independent English translation
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
Latin Page · Branch 63 of 174
Book II · Chapter 6 · §§ 1–4
Latin
p. 128Deus est ubique.
Ex superioribus probare possumus ubique esse Deum. Quemadmodum corpus tangit illud in quo est per quantitatis dimensiones, ita incorporea substantia per virtutem. Quamobrem, sicut si esset in natura dimensio aliqua corporis infinita, esset ubique, ita postquam est aliqua immensa incorporalis substantiae virtus, necessario haec est ubique.
Et quemadmodum particularis causa particulari effectui adest, ceu ignis ignito ligno, ita universalis universali. Ubicumque igitur reperitur vel cogitatur esse quod est universalis effectus, ibidem est et Deus, qui universalis est causa. Ubicumque est opus aliquod quod per certam causam solam et sine medio fieri necessarium est, ibidem eius causa debet esse. Est autem ubique aliquid quod per solum Deum modo quodam creationis potest subsistere. Id vero est materia prima in corporibus, essentia in spiritibus.
Appetibile est tamquam bonum ubique simul adesse, ferme non minus quam semper esse; primo autem bono nihil deest boni. Non prohibetur Deus ab aliquo penetrare per omnia; infinitae enim puritati virtutique resistit nihil.
Non patitur natura Dei circa se loci terminum, sicut non patitur in se terminum dignitatis. Quia si summa ipsa infinitas nihil finiti patitur, fit ut Deus ita non habeat finitam praesentiam spatii, sicuti non habet vim, actionem, durationemque finitam. Nec putandum est ipsum bonum minus toti adesse mundo quam toti corpori animam. Minus enim est mundus ad Deum quam corpus ad animam, magisque eget Deo mundus quam corpus anima.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 129God is everywhere.
From what has gone before we can prove that God is everywhere. Just as a body touches that in which it is through the dimensions of quantity, so an incorporeal substance touches it through power. Therefore, just as an infinite bodily dimension, if any such existed in nature, would be everywhere, so, since there exists an immeasurable power of incorporeal substance, this power is necessarily everywhere.
And just as a particular cause is present to its particular effect—as fire is present to kindled wood—so a universal cause is present to its universal effect. Wherever, therefore, that which is the universal effect is found or conceived to exist, there also is God, who is the universal cause. Wherever there is some work which must be brought about by one determinate cause alone and without any intermediary, its cause must be there. Now something exists everywhere that can subsist, by a certain mode of creation, through God alone: namely, primary matter in bodies and essence in spirits.
To be present everywhere at once is desirable as a good, almost no less than to exist always; but the first Good lacks no good. Nothing prevents God from penetrating all things, for nothing resists infinite purity and power.
God’s nature admits no boundary of place around itself, just as it admits no boundary of dignity within itself. For if supreme infinity itself admits nothing finite, it follows that God no more has a finite presence in space than he has finite power, action, or duration. Nor should we suppose that the Good itself is less present to the whole world than soul is to the whole body. For the world is less in relation to God than the body is in relation to soul, and the world needs God more than the body needs soul.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.6.1–II.6.4
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.