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Marsilio Ficino

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Books V–VIII · Latin with an independent English translation

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Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume IIBook V · Chapter 15 · § 27

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English Page · Branch 65 of 191

Book V · Chapter 15 · § 27

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Latin

p. 124

Hoc et de irrationali anima vel vita, quod nec in eam rationalis anima convertitur, dici potest. Et ipsa enim, nisi inferiori ordine rationali subiceretur, aeque speciem sumeret et talis esset. Tradunt ergo speciem a summa pulchritudine acceptam potentiora infirmioribus naturali ordine. Et utique, cum tradunt, non adimunt; eoque sunt quae infirmiora sunt, quantum sunt, quod species qua sunt eis a potentioribus traditur, quae quidem potentiora etiam meliora sunt. Quod his naturis datum est, quae non mole maiore plus possunt minoribus molibus, sed sine tumore ullo localis magnitudinis eadem specie potentiora sunt qua meliora. In quo genere est anima corpore melior et potentior. Quapropter, cum per illam, ut dictum est, corpus subsistat, ipsa in corpus converti nullo modo potest. Corpus enim nullum fit nisi accipiendo per animam speciem. At anima, ut corpus fieret, non accipiendo speciem sed amittendo fieri posset. Et ideo fieri nullo modo potest.

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

p. 125

The same can be said of irrational soul or life: rational soul is not converted into it either. Unless irrational life were subject to rational soul at a lower level, it would receive form equally and would be of the same order. More powerful natures therefore transmit to weaker ones, in the natural order, the form they have received from supreme beauty. In transmitting it they do not lose it. The weaker things are whatever they are because the form through which they are is given them by more powerful natures, and the more powerful are also better. This belongs to natures whose greater power over smaller bodies does not depend on greater bulk, but which, without any swelling of local magnitude, are more powerful through the same form by which they are better. Soul belongs to this order: it is better and more powerful than body. Since body subsists through it, as has been said, soul can in no way be converted into body. No body comes to be except by receiving form through soul. But if soul were to become body, it could do so not by receiving form but only by losing it. Therefore it cannot become body in any way.

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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.

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.