Archer and target · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordSagitta is an arrow, sagittarius an archer, and signum here a mark or target.
In the Platonic TheologyThe analogy follows the claim that natural bodies repeatedly reach definite ends while remaining ignorant of their own movement.
In this editionThe translation’s “mark” accurately selects the target-sense of signum.
A place to readThe arrow comparison explains assigned ends in unknowing bodies.

Meaning

Sagitta is an arrow, sagittarius an archer, and signum here a mark or target. Prudentia names the archer’s intelligent skill. It is not the same use of signum as a piece of evidence or a constellation.

Use in the book

The analogy follows the claim that natural bodies repeatedly reach definite ends while remaining ignorant of their own movement. Since they cannot prescribe their own end, Ficino concludes that another source prescribes it, just as the archer directs arrows toward the mark. The point is the distinction between directed movement and the mover’s knowledge of the direction. A body’s reaching an end does not prove that the body itself consciously deliberated. Conversely, the comparison is not the whole account of providence: Ficino soon emphasizes inward governance through each nature, and says that souls are attracted and persuaded rather than dragged. An arrow’s externally directed flight therefore must not become an indiscriminate model for human choice.

Selected annotated passages.

Places to read

II.13.9The arrow comparison explains assigned ends in unknowing bodies.
II.13.12Inward presence qualifies any model of an external operator.
II.13.26Souls are governed in a manner preserving their freedom.

Translation in this edition

The translation’s “mark” accurately selects the target-sense of signum. “Skill” renders prudentia contextually; “prudence” without explanation might misleadingly imply a separate ethical discussion.

ignarus / nescire

ignarus / nescire. Printed forms: ignara; nesciant.

Unaware / not know how. Bodies are said not to know their own movement or prescribe their ends, motivating the comparison with directed arrows. References: II.13.9. See Archer and target.

prudentia

prudentia. Printed forms: prudentia.

Intelligent practical skill. The archer’s prudentia explains aiming; it is invoked as a craft analogy rather than analyzed as a separate moral virtue. References: II.13.9. See Archer and target.

sagitta / sagittarius / signum

sagitta / sagittarius / signum. Printed forms: sagittae; sagittarii; signum.

Arrow / archer / target. The archer’s skill supplies directedness absent from the arrow’s own awareness; signum here is a mark to aim at. References: II.13.9. See Archer and target.