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 4 · § 10

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English Page · Branch 15 of 191

Book V · Chapter 4 · § 10

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Latin

p. 24

Immo vero, quia omnino aliud est materia, aliud forma ab ea semota, nihil per hoc materiae reliquum est quod illa commutata forma semota restat. Sic igitur colligamus: materia nequit ex eo quod est aliter permutari quam si vertatur in nihilum. In nihilum verti aliquid natura non patitur. Materia ergo non interit. Multo minus interibit vis ipsa naturalis, quae est materiae domina. Domina illius est vis ea efficiens quae format ipsam. Hanc format vis ea quae primum movet. Fons motionis est anima rationalis, cui qualitates ad movendam materiam serviunt ut instrumenta. Atque omnis anima rationalis per naturam essentiae tertiae universae materiae praesidet. Sed de hoc alias. Materiam quidem producit unitque Deus; firmat, ut Platonicis placet, et ordinat angelus; movet formatque anima. Immortalis unitas Deus est, qui immortali materiae dat unitatem. Immortalis ordo est angelus, qui immortali materiae ordinem exhibet. Immortalis vita est anima, quae movendo immortali materiae praebet vitam.

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

p. 25

Indeed, because matter is one thing and a form separated from it quite another, no trace of matter remains merely because a separated form survives after matter has been changed. Let us therefore draw the argument together. Matter can be changed from what it is in no other way than by being turned into nothing. Nature does not permit anything to be turned into nothing. Matter therefore does not perish. Far less will natural power itself—the mistress of matter—perish. Matter's mistress is the efficient power that forms it. That power in turn is formed by the power which first moves. The fountain of motion is rational soul, and qualities serve it as instruments for moving matter. By the nature of the third essence, every rational soul accordingly presides over universal matter. But we have spoken of this elsewhere. God indeed produces and unites matter; the angel, as the Platonists hold, stabilizes and orders it; the soul moves and forms it. God is immortal unity, giving unity to immortal matter. The angel is immortal order, furnishing order to immortal matter. The soul is immortal life, giving life to immortal matter by moving it.

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.