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Marsilio Ficino

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Proem and Books I–IV · Latin with an independent English translation

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Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume IBook II · Chapter 8 · § 5

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Latin Page · Branch 80 of 174

Book II · Chapter 8 · § 5

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Latin

p. 162

Anima nutrit corpus, digeritque in ipso multa simul absque sollicitudine atque labore. Sic Deus per esse suum, quod est simplicissimum quoddam rerum centrum a quo reliqua tamquam lineae deducuntur, facillimo nutu vibrat quicquid inde dependet. Hoc autem interest inter agens primum et agentia reliqua, quod primum agens ita per esse dicitur operari ut per esse purum agat, reliqua vero per esse, id est, per virtutem aliquam naturalem, sive, ut ita loquar, essentialem. Itaque operationem quae a consilio proficiscitur antecedit operatio quae a virtute essentiali peragitur; hanc rursus illa quae a puro fit esse. Et quanto quae virtute fit facilior est quam quae fit consilio, tanto quae puro esse expletur facilior est quam quae virtute.

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Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II

p. 163

Soul nourishes the body and digests many things within it at once, without anxiety or labor. So God, through his being—which is the simplest center of things, from which all else extends like lines—sets in motion with the easiest nod whatever depends upon him. This is the difference between the first agent and all other agents: the first agent is said to act through being in such a way that it acts through pure being, while the others act through being in the sense of some natural, or, so to speak, essential power. Thus operation proceeding from deliberation is preceded by operation performed through essential power, and this in turn by operation proceeding from pure being. And just as what is done through power is easier than what is done through deliberation, so what is accomplished through pure being is easier than what is done through power.

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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.

Discussion Questions

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.