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 69 of 174
Book II · Chapter 6 · §§ 21–23
Latin
p. 140Quoniam vero ubicumque est qui loquitur, illic et verbum, sequitur ut ubique sit mens sicut ubique Deus.
Mens cogitatione affectuque immensa est, prout immensa machinatur et vult, perque immensum sua operatione discurrit. Non potest autem ibi lucere operarique ubi non est, neque potest operatio talis latior esse quam essentia.
Est igitur in immenso. Finis ignis est ultimi caeli concavum. Ideo flammula quaelibet, si nihil prohiberet, illuc usque evolaret; et quando concavum illud attingeret, si dimensionem haberet sufficientem, se per totum illud amplificaret, ut toto eo quod sibi naturale est frueretur. Quod si esset indivisibilis, conaretur esse in quolibet illius puncto tota, ut tota frueretur ubique. Scopus finisque mentis est ipsum verum bonumque, id est Deus. Huc essentiali quodam instinctu ignis instar currit priusquam vitali, et vitali priusquam intellectuali. Nihil est autem quod obstat quin essentia mentis usque ad Deum penetret; corpus enim spiritui non resistit, multoque minus spiritus. Ac Deus omnia penetrat. Attingit ergo mens per instinctum essentialem semper Deum; adde et ubique, nam et ad hoc ipsum nititur et non habet vel assignatam dimensionem vel situs alicuius indigentiam naturalem, per quas ubique esse prohibeatur. Et quia ubicumque est aliquid agit, sequitur ut vivat intelligatque ubique semper in Deo.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 141But wherever the speaker is, there too is the word; it follows that mind is everywhere just as God is everywhere.
Mind is immeasurable in thought and desire, insofar as it conceives and wills immeasurable things and ranges throughout immensity in its activity. Yet it cannot shine and act where it is not, nor can an activity of this kind extend more widely than its essence.
It is therefore in immensity. The goal of fire is the concavity of the outermost heaven. Thus every little flame, if nothing prevented it, would fly all the way there; and when it reached that concavity, if it had sufficient dimension, it would spread itself throughout the whole of it, so as to enjoy the whole of what is natural to it. But if the flame were indivisible, it would strive to be whole in every one of its points, so that as a whole it might enjoy it everywhere. The aim and end of mind is the True and Good itself, that is, God. Toward this it runs, like fire, first by a certain essential instinct before it does so by a vital instinct, and by a vital instinct before an intellectual one. Nothing prevents the essence of mind from penetrating all the way to God, for body does not resist spirit, and spirit offers still less resistance. And God penetrates all things. Therefore, through its essential instinct mind always reaches God—add, everywhere as well; for it strives toward this very end and has neither an assigned dimension nor any natural need of a location by which it might be prevented from being everywhere. And because it acts wherever it is, it follows that it lives and understands everywhere, always in God.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.6.21–II.6.23
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.