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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Facing Pages · Branch 87 of 174
Book II · Chapter 10 · §§ 1–5
Latin
p. 176Deus intelligit infinita.
Vera nos ratio docet Deum non solum singula et infima quaeque, verum etiam infinita cognoscere.
Si Deus potentiam suam perfecte cognoscit, novit distincte omnia ad quae potentiam habet. Nam potentiae quantitas secundum eorum quae potest quantitatem consideratur. Virtus autem Dei, cum sit infinita, ad innumerabilia se extendit. Innumerabilia igitur Deus cognoscit.
Dei cognitio per omnia illa se penitus porrigit quae esse dicuntur, quomodocumque sint aut esse dicantur. Itaque oportet ut plane intelligat non modo illa quae actu existunt, verum etiam quaecumque potentia esse dicuntur. In rebus autem naturalibus sunt nonnulla, etsi non actu, saltem potentia infinita: capacitas videlicet materiae, progressio motus ac temporis, generationis successio.
Divisio continui. Multiplicatio numeri. Deus igitur plane intelligit infinita. Quemadmodum unitas, quae est principium numerorum, infinitos videret numeros actu, si eos numeros qui in ea secundum potentiam sunt videret. Est enim unitas secundum potentiam numerus omnis.
Deus per essentiam suam quasi quoddam exemplar omnia conspicit. Cum vero in hac essentia sit perfectio infinita, innumerabiles ad eius similitudinem res exprimi possunt, ita ut per innumerabiles perfectionis gradus in melius paulatim progrediantur, quia neque una res quaedam inde formata neque quantalibet finita rerum huiusmodi multitudo infiniti exemplaris integram usurpare potest perfectionem. Atque ita semper absque fine ullo novus superest modus quo aliquid aliud ultra exemplar ipsum valeat imitari. Deus igitur per innumerabiles infiniti exemplaris gradus innumerabiles intuetur imagines.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book II
p. 177God understands infinite things.
Sound reason teaches us that God knows not only individual things and all the lowest things, but also infinite things.
If God perfectly knows his own power, he knows distinctly everything over which he has power. For the scope of a power is measured according to the scope of the things it can do. But since God’s power is infinite, it extends to innumerable things. God therefore knows innumerable things.
God’s cognition extends completely through everything said to be, however it may exist or be said to exist. Thus he must clearly understand not only things that actually exist, but also whatever is said to exist in potency. Among natural things, moreover, some are infinite, if not in act, at least in potency: namely the capacity of matter, the progression of motion and time, and the succession of generation.
Division of the continuous. Multiplication of number. God therefore plainly understands infinite things. In the same way, unity, which is the principle of numbers, would behold infinite numbers in actuality if it saw the numbers that are in it potentially. For unity is every number in potency.
God beholds all things through his essence as through a kind of exemplar. Since infinite perfection is in this essence, innumerable things can be expressed in its likeness, so that they advance gradually toward the better through innumerable degrees of perfection. For neither any one thing formed from it, nor however large a finite multitude of such things, can lay claim to the complete perfection of the infinite exemplar. And so there always remains, without any end, a new way in which some further thing can imitate the exemplar itself. Thus through the innumerable degrees of the infinite exemplar God beholds innumerable images.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book II · II.10.1–II.10.5
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.