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 74 of 174
Book II · Chapter 7 · §§ 15–17
Latin
p. 150Quod autem aliunde pendet, non est necessario per se ipsum. Non est igitur angelus aut aliud quodvis essendi necessitas, sed solus Deus. Si nihil aliud praeter Deum exsistit necessario per se ipsum, a Deo cuncta accipiunt esse. Hinc physicorum quorundam profana sententia condemnatur, qui materiam, mundum, mentem non solum semper fuisse opinantur, verum etiam nullo modo ex Deo secundum essentiam dependere, quamvis secundum actum inde pendeant.
Moveri enim operarique ad bonum omnia fatentur tamquam ad finem. Considerare debebant quicquid sibi in operando non potest sufficere, sed ab extrinseco fine sufficientiam exigit, multo minus in essentia sibi posse sufficere, utpote quod ab extrinseco principio habet essentiam. Quippe si eiusdem est perficere cuius efficere, atque converso, sicut omnia bono perficiuntur tamquam fine, sic ab eodem tamquam principio efficiuntur. Et cum essentia in fonte suo perfectissima sit, si quodlibet illorum trium essentiae suae fons esset, cuiuslibet illorum substantia aeque perfecta esset tum ad se invicem tum ad Deum; neque ad Deum, sed ad se ipsa tamquam ad finem perfectionemque suam converterentur.
Sicuti se habet ars ad naturam, sic et natura ad Deum. Artium opera eatenus permanent incorrupta, quatenus vi naturae servantur, ut statua constat diu per naturalem lapidis aut aeris soliditatem. Similiter naturalia quaeque eatenus manent, quatenus Dei servantur influxu. Et sicut natura operibus suis infert motum, sic Deus naturae praestat esse. Tamdiu opera naturae moventur quamdiu natura movet.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 151But what depends upon another does not exist necessarily through itself. Therefore neither an angel nor anything else is the necessity of being: God alone is. If nothing besides God exists necessarily through itself, all things receive being from God. Hence is condemned the profane opinion of certain natural philosophers, who suppose that matter, the world, and mind have not only existed always, but also depend in no way upon God with respect to their essence, although in their activity they depend upon him.
They admit, indeed, that all things are moved and act toward the good as their end. They ought to have considered that whatever cannot suffice for itself in acting, but requires sufficiency from an external end, can much less suffice for itself in essence, seeing that it has its essence from an external principle. For if it belongs to the same thing to perfect and to bring into being, and conversely, then just as all things are perfected by the good as their end, so are they brought into being by that same good as their principle. And since essence is most perfect in its source, if each of those three were the source of its own essence, the substance of each would be equally perfect both in relation to the others and in relation to God; and they would turn not toward God but toward themselves as their own end and perfection.
As art stands to nature, so nature stands to God. Works of art remain uncorrupted only so far as they are preserved by the power of nature: thus a statue endures for a long time through the natural solidity of stone or bronze. In the same way, natural things remain only so far as they are preserved by God’s influx. And as nature imparts motion to its works, so God grants being to nature. The works of nature are moved so long as nature moves them.
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Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.7.15–II.7.17
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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.