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 9 of 174
Book I · Chapter 2 · §§ 3–5
Latin
p. 20Quapropter cum tres esse debeant perfectae actionis condiciones, corpus aut habet tres alias illis adversas, aut unam illarum accipiendo non accipit aliam. Oporteret quippe brevitatem simul habere, levitatem et raritatem. Quae quidem tria ad incorporealem quendam habitum corpus ipsum reducunt, ut omnis agendi virtus sit ad naturam incorpoream referenda.
Nonne ex ipsa quantitate multitudo partium est tum in agente, tum in patiente, tum in medio horum spatio? At propter primum illud remissior actio est, quae aliter esset admodum vehementior. Propter secundum paulatim transigitur, quod subito impleretur. Propter tertium sero peragitur, quod cito consumaret. Quapropter ad vim quandam incorpoream pertinere videtur vehemens, cita et subita operatio.
Idem nobis ostendit ignis, qui sua tenuitate prae ceteris elementis naturae spiritali propinquat. Est autem efficacissimus omnium. Momento enim paene facit quod alia corpora longo tempore. Admixtionem in se aliorum non patitur, qualem cetera corpora patiuntur. Scintilla ignis, si detur materia, totum ferme occupabit orbem. Reliqua elementa non tantum, non tam cito, non tam vehementer se ipsa diffundunt. Hic autem quia tenuis est, fit potens. Quia potens fit, latus evadit potius quam converso. Fit etiam luminis, quod incorporale dicitur, capax, cuius actio fit momento; et modicus aer in vasis summo vas in aquae summo substinet, etiam si multorum lapidum pondere oneretur. In fulgure quoque et bombarda plane perspicitur quantum ignis aerque valeant. Denique caelum quanto minus crassum est quam cetera, tanto luce, motu, effectu est mirabilius. Si igitur corpus quanto propinquius fit incorporeis, tanto ad agendum fit efficacius, quis non videat agendi vim in natura incorporali consistere?
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I: Book I
p. 21Therefore, although perfect action requires three conditions, body either possesses three other conditions opposed to them or, in acquiring one of the required conditions, fails to acquire another. It would have to possess smallness, lightness, and rarity all at once. Yet these three bring body itself toward a kind of incorporeal condition, so that every power of acting must be ascribed to an incorporeal nature.
Does not quantity itself produce a multiplicity of parts in the agent, in the patient, and in the space between them? Because of the first, action is weaker, though otherwise it would be far more forceful. Because of the second, what would be completed instantaneously is accomplished only little by little. Because of the third, what an agent would swiftly complete is completed only late. A forceful, swift, and instantaneous operation therefore seems to belong to some incorporeal power.
Fire shows us the same thing. Through its tenuity it comes closer than the other elements to spiritual nature, and it is the most efficacious of all. In an instant it does nearly what other bodies do over a long time. It admits no admixture of other things into itself of the kind that other bodies undergo. Given material, a spark of fire will occupy almost the whole world. The other elements do not diffuse themselves so far, so quickly, or so violently. Fire, however, becomes powerful because it is subtle; because it becomes powerful it grows widespread, rather than the reverse. It is also receptive to light, which is said to be incorporeal and whose action takes place in an instant; and a small amount of air in the upper part of a vessel supports the vessel on the surface of the water, even if it is loaded with the weight of many stones. Lightning and the cannon likewise show plainly how much fire and air can do. Finally, the less dense heaven is than the other bodies, the more wondrous it is in light, motion, and effect. If, then, a body becomes more efficacious in acting in proportion as it draws nearer to incorporeal things, who does not see that the power of acting resides in an incorporeal nature?
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I · Book I · I.2.3–I.2.5
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.