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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 VI · Chapter 13 · § 11

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Facing Pages · Branch 117 of 191

Book VI · Chapter 13 · § 11

Book Mode

Latin

p. 228

Non enim dicendum est, quando anima imaginem rei possidens effluit, eandem influenti animae imaginem se ipsam insinuare, quia nequit qualitas ulla in subiectum novum de vetere subiecto transire. Neque etiam evanescens illa prior anima imaginem aliam suae similem in anima veniente figurat. Figurare quidem, cum sit actio, perfectum requirit agentem. Illa vero anima dum interit deficit quidem ipsa, neque potest tunc animam novam perficere. Formare vero se ipsam anima nova nequit, eo praesertim ipso momento quo nascitur, quia ipsa etiam tunc est imperfecta. Quocirca nullo modo potest anima rerum earum quas olim novit imagines scientiasque tenere memoriter, si corporis et qualitatis instar effluat paulatim et influat.

228

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

p. 229

For we must not say that, when a soul possessing the image of a thing flows away, that same image insinuates itself into the soul that flows in. No quality can pass from an old subject into a new one. Nor does the former soul, as it vanishes, fashion in the incoming soul another image like its own. Fashioning, to be sure, is an action and requires a perfect agent. But as the former soul perishes, it itself fails and cannot then perfect the new soul. Nor can the new soul form itself, especially at the very moment when it comes to be, since it too is then imperfect. Therefore, if the soul gradually flows out and flows in like a body and a quality, it can in no way retain in memory the images and knowledge of the things it once knew.

229

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.