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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 V · Chapter 15 · §§ 11–14

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Latin Page · Branch 59 of 191

Book V · Chapter 15 · §§ 11–14

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Latin

p. 112

Ad haec ea quae intelligit animus, cum se averterit a corpore, non sunt profecto corporea, et tamen sunt maxime quae sunt.

Nam eodem modo sese semper habent. Nihilque absurdius dici potest quam ea esse quae oculis videmus, ea non esse quae intelligentia cernimus, cum dubitare dementis sit intelligentiam incomparabiliter oculis anteferri. Haec autem quae intelliguntur, eodem modo sese habentia, cum ea intuetur animus absque aliquo instrumento, satis ostendit se illis esse coniunctum miro quodam eoque incomparabili modo, scilicet non secundum locum. Nam aut in illo sunt, aut ipse in illis, aut utrumque per se subsistit. Si primum illud est, non est harmonia corporis animus aut harmoniae mancipatus.

Quicquid enim tale est a corpore tamquam subiecto separari non potest; proptereaque quicquid in illo est corpori aeque atque illud astringitur. Mutabile autem est corpus humanum. Mutabiles igitur erunt rationes illae rerum quae sunt in animo contemplante, si animus mutabili corpori alligatur. Mutabiles autem esse rationes illae non possunt.

Semper enim eodem modo verum est quod duo et quattuor sex conficiunt, quodque quae comparatio est duorum ad quattuor eadem quattuor est ad octo, ceteraque generis huius quamplurima. Rationes huiusmodi inseparabiliter insunt animo, qui semper et subito his utitur pro arbitrio.

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

p. 113

Furthermore, the things the mind understands when it turns away from the body are certainly not corporeal; nevertheless, they are supremely real.

For they remain always in the same state. Nothing could be more absurd than to say that the things we see with our eyes exist while the things we discern by intelligence do not, since only a madman could doubt that intelligence is incomparably superior to sight. When the mind beholds without any instrument these intelligible things, which remain always the same, it shows clearly that it is joined to them in a wondrous and incomparable manner—not, of course, by place. Either they are in the mind, the mind is in them, or each subsists in its own right. If the first is true, the mind is neither a harmony of the body nor enslaved to such a harmony.

Whatever is of that kind cannot be separated from the body as its subject; consequently, everything in it is bound to the body just as it is. The human body is mutable. Therefore, if the contemplating mind were tied to a mutable body, the intelligible principles of things present in that mind would also be mutable. But those principles cannot be mutable.

It is always true in the same way that two and four make six, and that the relation of two to four is the same as the relation of four to eight; and there are very many other truths of this kind. Principles such as these are inseparably present in the mind, which can always employ them at once and at will.

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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.