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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 VIII · Chapter 2 · § 6

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Latin Page · Branch 153 of 191

Book VIII · Chapter 2 · § 6

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Latin

p. 300

Quis igitur ambigat ulterius quin veritas humanae mentis naturalis sit esca? Eandem escam omnes appetunt mentes, eandem quaeque mens semper. Quae quidem consensio stabilis appetendi significat mentes inter se mirifice convenire et quamlibet mentem in natura sua stabilem permanere, quandoquidem appetitus earum non ita variatur mutaturve ut appetitio sensuum, quae pro diversitate corporum diversa est et ad mutationem corporis permutatur, quasi sensus corporum mutationem sequantur, mens divinorum stabilitatem. Odit namque corporis alimenta, atque eodem cibo vescitur quo caelestes et sempiternae mentes. Hic cibus est veritas.

300

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

p. 301

Who, then, can any longer doubt that truth is the natural food of the human mind? All minds desire the same food, and every mind desires it always. This stable agreement in desire signifies both that minds accord wonderfully with one another and that each mind remains stable in its own nature. Their appetite does not vary or alter as the appetite of the senses does, which differs with the diversity of bodies and changes when the body changes—as though the senses followed the mutability of bodies, but the mind the stability of divine things. For the mind hates the body’s foods and feeds upon the same food as the celestial and everlasting minds. This food is truth.

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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.