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 7 of 174
Book I · Chapter 1 · §§ 5–7
Latin
p. 16Super animam rationalem exstare mentem angelicam, non individuam modo, sed etiam immutabilem, in qua videantur Anaxagoras et Hermotimus quievisse.
Huius denique mentis oculo, qui cupit veritatis lumen et capit, solem ipsum praeesse divinum, in quem Plato noster purgatam mentis aciem dirigere iussit, docuit et contendit.
Proinde cum huc ascenderimus, hos quinque rerum omnium gradus, corporis videlicet molem, qualitatem, animam, angelum, Deum, invicem comparabimus. Quoniam autem ipsum rationalis animae genus inter gradus huiusmodi medium obtinens vinculum naturae totius apparet, regit qualitates et corpora, angelo se iungit et Deo, ostendemus id esse prorsus indissolubile, dum gradus naturae connectit; praestantissimum, dum mundi machinae praesidet; beatissimum, dum se divinis insinuat. Ita vero nostrum animum se habere atque esse talem rationibus primo communibus, secundo argumentationibus propriis, tertio signis, quarto solutionibus quaestionum asseverabimus.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book I
p. 17We shall show that above the rational soul there stands an angelic mind, not merely indivisible but also immutable, in which Anaxagoras and Hermotimus seem to have come to rest.
Finally, over the eye of this mind—which desires and receives the light of truth—we shall show that the divine Sun himself presides. Toward him our Plato commanded, taught, and strove to direct the mind's purified gaze.
Accordingly, when we have climbed to this point, we shall compare with one another these five levels of all things: bodily mass, quality, soul, angel, and God. Since the very order of rational soul, holding the middle place among such levels, appears as the bond of the whole of nature—governing qualities and bodies, and joining itself to angel and to God—we shall show that it is utterly indissoluble insofar as it binds together the levels of nature; most excellent insofar as it presides over the machinery of the world; and most blessed insofar as it enters intimately into divine things. That our own soul is so constituted and of such a kind we shall affirm first by common reasons, second by arguments proper to it, third by signs, and fourth by resolving questions.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book I · I.1.5–I.1.7
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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.