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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 VI · Chapter 2 · § 27

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Facing Pages · Branch 86 of 191

Book VI · Chapter 2 · § 27

Latin

p. 166

Et paulo ante tamquam punctum a corpore liberum, agile per se ipsum, calens, vivificum, sentiens, capax superiorum, quod substantialis quaedam unitas appellatur. Atque haec prima quaedam excursio sit et quasi praeludium, quo infelix diffidentia illa tollatur quae longissime a spiritalium confessione abducit animos plebeiorum.

166

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

p. 167

And a little earlier you discovered it as a point free from body, active through itself, warm, life-giving, sentient, and receptive of higher things—a point which is called a kind of substantial unity. Let this be a first excursion and, as it were, a prelude by which that unhappy distrust may be removed—the distrust that draws the minds of the common people far away from acknowledging spiritual realities.

167

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.