Architect, house and decoration · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordAn architectus directs a construction; a minister serves under that direction.
In the Platonic TheologyFicino uses the architect twice in different arguments.
In this editionThe English alternates “architect,” “maker,” and “artisan” with the Latin roles.
A place to readThe servant–architect comparison orders particular and universal agency.

Meaning

An architectus directs a construction; a minister serves under that direction. Domus is the house, aedificium the building, and picturae its paintings or painted decoration. The terms distinguish a coordinating skill from subordinate work and distinguish an original construction from later additions.

Use in the book

Ficino uses the architect twice in different arguments. First, an agent restricted to a particular natural good stands to intellectual nature as a servant to an architect: local efficacy does not supply the whole plan. Second, the architect cannot conceive the building without the proper accounts of its parts. The analogy supports the presence of particular intelligible accounts within the divine idea of universal order. It does not make divine simplicity a collection of drawings. The house then differentiates accidents accompanying the work from the outset from paintings added once it is complete. The former follow the original house-form; the latter call for other ideas. Finally, random handling of stones is contrasted with constructing beautiful, useful, interconnected walls. This last case tests purposive arrangement, rather than the earlier question of how many ideas are required.

Selected annotated passages.

Places to read

II.11.14The servant–architect comparison orders particular and universal agency.
II.11.18The plan of a whole requires accounts of its parts.
II.11.21Original features and later paintings have different explanatory places.
II.13.15Random stone-handling fails to provide an ordered building.

Translation in this edition

The English alternates “architect,” “maker,” and “artisan” with the Latin roles. “Accidental features” in the house example means features of an already constituted substance; it does not mean features acquired by chance. The paintings are a counterexample to treating every subsequent addition as contained in precisely the same way in the initial house-plan.

aedificium / domus

aedificium / domus. Printed forms: aedificii; domui; domus.

Building / house. The plan of a building requires accounts of parts; the house example then distinguishes original features from later additions. References: II.11.18, II.11.21. See Architect, house and decoration.

comitari / contingere

comitari / contingere. Printed forms: comitantur; contingunt.

Accompany / accrue or happen to. Original accidental features accompany the house; later paintings accrue to it after completion. Contingunt here need not mean chance. References: II.11.21. See Architect, house and decoration.

lapis / paries / congeries

lapis / paries / congeries. Printed forms: congeriem; lapides; parietibus.

Stone / wall / heap. Unplanned stone-handling is said to yield a useless heap, whereas an ordered building requires coordinated walls. References: II.13.15, II.13.16. See Architect, house and decoration.

minister / architectus

minister / architectus. Printed forms: architectum; architectus; minister.

Servant or subordinate worker / architect. The contrast represents particular natural efficacy subordinated to the universal direction of intellectual nature. References: II.11.14. See Architect, house and decoration.

opifex

opifex. Printed forms: opificis.

Maker or craftsman. The maker’s intellect contains the form in whose likeness the ordered effect is produced. References: II.11.18. See Architect, house and decoration.

pictura

pictura. Printed forms: picturae.

Painting or painted decoration. Later decoration exemplifies additions arranged by ideas other than the original house-plan. References: II.11.21. See Architect, house and decoration.