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 11 · §§ 3–5

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Latin Page · Branch 34 of 191

Book V · Chapter 11 · §§ 3–5

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Latin

p. 62

Quod autem tenet in animabus primae materiae potentiaeque locum, ipsa earum essentia est. Itaque essentia illarum eminentior est quam materia corporum. Materia corporum incorruptibilis est; ergo quid mirum si esse potest incorruptibilis illa? Quo fit ut, si quando anima esse suum fingatur amittere, supersit necessario adhuc essentia atque substantia. Haec si superest, est certe. Si est adhuc, esse nondum est amissum. Ita anima, si corrumpi dicatur, etiam post corruptionem necessario superest, immo etiam vivit. Esse namque animae nihil aliud est quam vivere.

Sed ne quis dicat ipsum animae esse resolvi in essentiam atque essentiam ulterius non existere, quia sit absque actu, quamvis potentia forte supersit alicubi, meminisse oportet essentiam illam non posse in materiae potentiamve materiae redigi.

Quia neque ex materia constat tamquam parte sui, neque ex materiae potentia pullulat. Rursus non posse resolvi in potentiam causae alicuius agentis, nisi forte in Dei virtutem, qui solus animam procreavit. Non autem ob id moritur animus, quod in primam vitam resolvitur. Moreretur autem, si reductus in Deum desineret esse animus.

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

p. 63

What occupies in souls the place of prime matter and potentiality is their essence itself. Their essence is therefore more exalted than the matter of bodies. Bodily matter is incorruptible; why, then, should it be surprising if the soul’s essence is incorruptible too? Hence, if we suppose that the soul at some point loses its being, its essence and substance must still remain. But if that essence remains, it certainly is; and if it still is, its being has not yet been lost. Thus, even when the soul is said to be corrupted, it necessarily survives its corruption—indeed, it remains alive, since for a soul to be is nothing other than to live.

But someone might say that the soul’s very being is resolved into essence, while the essence then ceases to exist because it is without actuality, even though some potentiality may perhaps remain somewhere. Against this we must remember that the soul’s essence cannot be reduced either to matter or to a potentiality belonging to matter.

For it is neither composed of matter as one of its parts nor does it spring from matter’s potentiality. Nor, again, can it be resolved into the power of any efficient cause—unless perhaps into the power of God, who alone brought the soul forth. Yet the mind does not die by being resolved into the primal life. It would die only if, on being led back to God, it ceased to be a mind.

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.