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 78 of 174
Book II · Chapter 7 · §§ 31–32
Latin
p. 158Immo divina virtus per varia media se ipsam ad varios distinguit effectus, sicuti solis lumen, quod per se ad quemlibet colorem aeque se habet, si per duas fenestras vitreas penetraverit quarum altera rubra sit, altera viridis, duos in pavimento splendores efficiet, rubrum scilicet atque viridem. Quod quidem uterque sit splendor, simpliciter habebit a lumine; quod vero alter rubeus sit, viridis alter, a lumine rursus habebit, sed quantum per tale vitrum penetrans aut tale, aliter aliterque se format.
Concludamus primo quod causa prima vehementius agit in quovis effectu quam reliquae causae, quia vestigium quod ab ea imprimitur, scilicet esse, et prius imprimitur et posterius deletur quam reliquarum vestigia causarum, quasi fortius imprimatur. Deinde quod ceterae causae super vestigium primae causae sua firmant vestigia, quae sicut omnia sua opera necessario in opere causae primae fundant, sic virtutes actionesque suas in illius virtute actioneque stabiliunt.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 159Indeed, divine power distinguishes itself into various effects through various intermediaries, just as sunlight, which in itself is equally disposed toward every color, if it passes through two glass windows, one red and the other green, will produce two radiances upon the pavement, namely a red one and a green. Each will derive from the light, simply, the fact that it is a radiance; but it will likewise derive from the light the fact that one is red and the other green, though only insofar as the light, passing through one kind of glass or the other, fashions itself differently in each case.
Let us conclude, first, that the first cause acts more powerfully in every effect than the other causes, because the trace it impresses—namely being—is both impressed earlier and effaced later than the traces of the other causes, as though it were impressed more deeply. Second, the other causes establish their traces upon the trace of the first cause; just as they necessarily ground all their works in the work of the first cause, so they establish their powers and actions in its power and action.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.7.31–II.7.32
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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.