Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Name: Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Author: Marsilio Ficino

Books V–VIII · Latin with an independent English translation

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Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume IIBook V · Chapter 11 · §§ 1–2

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English Page · Branch 33 of 191

Book V · Chapter 11 · §§ 1–2

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Latin

p. 60

Undecima ratio: quia non componitur ex aliqua potentia in quam possit resolvi.

Sicut generatio fit per coniunctionem formae cum materia, ita per separationem formae a materia fit corruptio. Ubi non est harum rerum coniunctio, non accidit separatio. Talis autem compositio non est in anima. Sed rationem hanc latius prosequamur. In corruptione cuiusque rei perditur ipse rei actus; sed post illum superest aliquid quod suberat illi actui, veluti potentia aliqua susceptiva, ne fiat corruptio in nihilum, sicut non fit ex nihilo generatio. Res quidem ex forma materiaque composita resolvitur in materiam. Forma quoque illa quae ex materiae fomite educta fuerat reducitur in materiae fomitem. In anima vero actus ipsius est ipsum suum esse. Essentia vero et substantia eius est illa ipsa potentia quae essendi actui subest. Non enim est in formis absolutis ferme alia compositio quam ex essentia atque esse, aut similis. Essentia locum materiae et potentiae tenet; esse vero locum formae et actus. Si corrumpitur anima, perditur eius esse omnino. Sed numquid etiam essentia? Nequaquam. Nulla enim res in nihil resolvitur, quia res quae usque adeo est simplex ut non aliter resolvi possit quam in nihilum etiam talis est ut sit a Deo facta per creationem ex nihilo. Quae autem talis est, soli auctori suo subest Deo.

Dei vero influxus vitalis atque beneficus nihil interimit. Itaque si anima destruitur, licet amittat esse eius, tamen essentia remanet. Quod etiam inde constat, quod quanto nobilior res est, tanto nobiliorem habet materiam, nobiliorem et formam. Animae sunt admodum praestantiores corporibus. Igitur sub illarum esse tamquam sub forma et actu latet materia quaedam et potentia, si qua latet, praestantior quam sub forma et sub esse corporis cuiuscumque.

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

p. 61

Eleventh argument: because it is not composed of any potency into which it could be resolved.

Just as generation occurs when form is joined to matter, so corruption occurs when form is separated from matter. Where there is no conjunction of the two, no separation can take place; and no composition of this kind exists in the soul. Let us, however, pursue the argument more fully. When anything is corrupted, the actuality that belonged to it is lost, yet something remains beneath that actuality—a receptive potentiality—so that corruption does not terminate in nothing, just as generation does not begin from nothing. A thing composed of form and matter is resolved into matter; even the form that had been drawn from the tinder of matter is reduced again to that tinder. In the soul, by contrast, its actuality is its very being. Its essence and substance are the potentiality underlying the actuality of being, for in separate forms there is scarcely any composition other than, or analogous to, that of essence and being. Essence occupies the place of matter and potentiality; being, the place of form and actuality. If the soul is corrupted, therefore, its being is wholly lost. But is its essence lost as well? By no means. No thing is resolved into nothing. A thing so simple that it could be resolved only into nothing is precisely the kind of thing God creates from nothing, and such a thing is subject to God alone as its author.

Yet God’s life-giving and beneficent influx destroys nothing. Thus, even if the soul were destroyed and lost its being, its essence would remain. This is also clear from the principle that the nobler a thing is, the nobler are both its matter and its form. Souls far surpass bodies. Therefore, if beneath their being—as beneath form and actuality—there lies any matter or potentiality at all, it must be nobler than what lies beneath the form and being of any body whatsoever.

About This Reading Edition

Volume II continues Ficino’s inquiry into the immortality of the soul through Books V–VIII. Its arguments consider the rational soul’s self-motion, its relation to the body, sensation, and the powers of the mind. The Latin and independent English translation follow the supplied edition’s facing pages and matching comparison units.

Historical Text and Translation

The Latin reading text is independently established from the Florence 1482 editio princeps (M1482), collated against the Paris 1559 printing (G1559), with the Paris 1641 Opera used only as a late control. Abbreviations are expanded, spelling and punctuation are conservatively normalized, and consequential readings are recorded in the apparatus.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation in the voice established in Volume I, preserving Ficino’s argumentative sequence, metaphors, technical distinctions, repetitions, conditions, purposes, and qualifications. Editorial notes and witness variants accompany their passages as numbered notes. The edition and source statement, contents, and reading guidance are also retained. The source locator register remains available in the downloadable edition.