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 68 of 174
Book II · Chapter 6 · §§ 17–20
Latin
p. 138Et sicut se habet tempus ad aeternitatem, ita temporale ad aeternum. At momenta temporis momentum aeternitatis reperiunt semper; puncta igitur corporis temporalis punctum ubique spiritus aeterni reperiunt. Aeterna res quemadmodum extra tempus est semper, ita extra locum esse videtur ubique. Quocumque momenta temporis fluunt, in punctum aeternitatis incurrunt. Quacumque trahitur linea, punctum attingit. Quacumque tenditur spatium, reperit rem aeternam.
Quid est potissimum quod potest ubique esse? Id certe cui non repugnat quantitatis dimensio.
Quid rursus quod potest esse semper? Id maxime quod qualitatis actio non expugnat. Quoniam vero qualitas quantitate admodum efficacior est, quicquid non prohibente qualitate semper esse potest, multo magis potest non prohibente dimensione ubique esse. Localis motus, qui extrinsecus motus est, tanto in re qualibet perfectior apparet quanto intrinseca rei natura est efficacior. Ideo propagare se per omnia, quod motum localem imitatur, exigit ut in re ipsa prius sit virtus ipsius perpetuo conservatrix, quae quidem intrinseca perfectio dicitur; et cui haec intrinseca perfectio competit, consequenter convenit extrinseca per universale spatium dilatatio.
Praestantius est semper esse, quod est tamquam intrinsecum, quam ubique esse, quod tamquam extrinsecum est. Idcirco quod potest esse semper multo magis ubique esse potest. Facilius est enim pigras dimensiones excedere quam motionem qualitatis et temporis efficacem. Mens tam sibi quam aliis prae ceteris significat naturam, consilium, affectum Dei. Prodit ergo ex Deo tamquam verbum, immo tamquam verbi significatio a loquente Deo.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 139And as time stands to eternity, so the temporal stands to the eternal. The moments of time always encounter the moment of eternity; hence the points of a temporal body everywhere encounter the point of eternal spirit. Just as an eternal thing, being beyond time, is always, so, being beyond place, it appears to be everywhere. Wherever the moments of time flow, they run into the point of eternity. Wherever a line is drawn, it reaches a point. Wherever space is stretched, it encounters an eternal thing.
What above all is capable of being everywhere? Certainly that to which quantitative dimension offers no resistance.
What, again, is especially capable of existing always? That which the action of quality does not overcome. But since quality is far more efficacious than quantity, whatever can exist always without quality preventing it can much more be everywhere without dimension preventing it. Local motion, which is outward motion, appears more perfect in any thing the more efficacious the thing’s inward nature is. Hence the power to propagate itself through all things, which imitates local motion, requires that there first be in the thing itself a power perpetually preserving it. This is called inward perfection; and whatever possesses this inward perfection consequently possesses an outward diffusion through universal space.
To exist always, which is as it were inward, is more excellent than to exist everywhere, which is as it were outward. Therefore, what can exist always can much more exist everywhere. For it is easier to transcend sluggish dimensions than the efficacious motion of quality and time. More than anything else, mind signifies to itself and to others the nature, counsel, and affection of God. It therefore proceeds from God as a word—indeed, as the meaning of a word—from God who speaks.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.6.17–II.6.20
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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.