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 32 of 191
Book V · Chapter 10 · § 3
Latin
p. 58Essentia vero tertia quia sui ipsius est forma, immo ipsamet forma est et forma a materia libera, idcirco per se refertur in Deum. Ut refertur, ita est. Ergo est et per se ipsam. Refertur autem per essentiam suam; illa stabilis est. Quapropter ad stabilem Deum per stabilem sui ipsius essentiam relata, stabilis permanet. Nempe essentia haec relationis suae causa est; relatio perfectionis. Se ipsam vero numquam deserit; numquam ergo desinit se ipsam referre, numquam se ipsam perficere referendo. Deus quidem semper exuberat; illa semper haurit. Igitur tum ex parte hausti tum haurientis, semper quidem esse ipsum bibit ac permanet immortalis.
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II: Book V
p. 59The third essence, however, is the form of itself—indeed, is form itself—and is a form free from matter. It is therefore related to God through itself. As it is related, so it exists; hence it also exists through itself. It is related through its own essence, and that essence is stable. Related to the stable God through its own stable essence, it therefore remains stable. For this essence is the cause of its own relation, and that relation is the source of its perfection. It never abandons itself; therefore it never ceases to relate itself and never ceases to perfect itself through that relation. God always overflows, and the soul always draws from him. Thus, from both sides—from what is drawn and from the one who draws—the soul forever drinks being itself and remains immortal.
Socrates
Reading Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II · Book V · V.10.3
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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