Diotimos Library · Renaissance Collection · Bilingual Edition
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Books V–VIII · Latin with an independent English translation
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Facing Pages · Branch 180 of 191
Book VIII · Chapter 11 · § 1
Latin
p. 354Undecima ratio. Mens statu proficit, corpus motu.
Numquam corpus formam novam accipit nisi per motum. Nam per alterationem, ut aiunt physici, forma inducitur in materiam. Mens autem neque per motum accipit formas, neque accipiendo movetur. Quae quanto magis ab omni perturbationum et negotiorum motu quietem agit, tanto magis proficit speculando. Ubi etiam apparet eius aeternitas, quia suapte natura solam speculationem veritatis affectat, atque ideo statum, sine quo non perficitur speculatio. Proficit autem corpus motu, quod per motum natum est. Quod ergo stando proficit, ex statu dependet, ideoque stabilem habet substantiam atque perpetuam.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II: Book VIII
p. 355Eleventh argument. The mind advances through stillness, the body through motion.
A body never receives a new form except through motion. For, as the natural philosophers say, a form is introduced into matter by alteration. Mind, however, neither receives forms through motion nor is moved by receiving them. The more completely it rests from all the agitation of passions and worldly affairs, the more it advances in contemplation. Here its eternity also becomes apparent: by its own nature it desires only the contemplation of truth, and therefore desires repose, without which contemplation cannot be perfected. A body, by contrast, advances through motion, for motion is the source of its birth. Whatever advances by remaining still therefore depends upon stillness and accordingly possesses a stable and perpetual substance.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II · Book VIII · VIII.11.1
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.
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- public-domain-base-witnessFlorence 1482 editio princeps — Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
- collating-witness-cc-by-4.0Paris 1559 printing — Universidad Complutense de Madrid
- late-control-and-ocr-aidParis 1641 Opera printing — Internet Archive