From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordCircumscribere marks drawing a boundary around; coarctare narrows or constrains; cohibere holds within bounds; alligare binds.
- In the Platonic TheologyA common nature received in different things is confined within their limits, unlike unity subsisting in itself.
- In this editionThe local English uses “bounded,” “confined,” “constrained,” and “bound.”
- A place to readReceived common nature is circumscribed while unity itself is unconstrained
Meaning
Circumscribere marks drawing a boundary around; coarctare narrows or constrains; cohibere holds within bounds; alligare binds. Terminare and finire can limit a thing’s scope or determine its character. None is restricted to a drawn line in physical space.
Use in the book
A common nature received in different things is confined within their limits, unlike unity subsisting in itself. Act and being receive limits, Ficino argues, from a receptive subject or a limiting cause; these are metaphysical restrictions, not necessarily external walls. Divine power lacks both.
The omnipresence chapter distinguishes a boundary of place around a thing from a boundary of dignity within it. The paired expressions prevent “infinite” from being read only as enormous extension. In the reported account of rational spirits, lower forms are restricted to the matters from which they arise, while rational spirits are neither dimensioned nor bound to a dimension. The latter inference belongs to the authorities’ position and does not erase the chapter’s distinction between God and created mind.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The local English uses “bounded,” “confined,” “constrained,” and “bound.” A limiting subject in II.42345678 is a recipient or bearer, not a knowing subject in the modern psychological sense.
certus / assignare / limitare
certus / assignare / limitare. Printed forms: assignari; assignatam; certo; limites.
Determinate or fixed; to assign a boundary, dimension, or first moment. Assigned limits distinguish finite kinds and positions; the eternal-world supposition excludes an assignable first reception of being. References: II.2.7, II.6.12, II.6.23, II.7.18. See Bounds and restriction.
circumscribere / coarctare
circumscribere / coarctare. Printed forms: angustiis; circumscribitur; coarctatur.
To circumscribe or constrain within narrow bounds. A nature received in others is limited, unlike unity subsisting without any restricting boundary. References: II.2.4. See Bounds and restriction.
cohibere / detinere
cohibere / detinere. Printed forms: cohiberi; cohibetur; detinerentur.
To restrain, contain, or hold in place. Dependent flow is sustained by stability; divine presence is not contained by a subject or place. References: II.3.8, II.6.8, II.7.8. See Bounds and restriction.
dignitas
dignitas. Printed forms: dignitatis.
Dignity or rank of excellence. A boundary of place around God is compared with a boundary of dignity within him, linking two different senses of limitation. References: II.6.4. See Bounds and restriction.
prohibere / claudere / includere
prohibere / claudere / includere. Printed forms: clauditur; includit; prohibeatur; prohiberet; prohibet; prohibetur.
To prevent or shut within limits; to include within a scope. Goodness includes the ground of desire; no obstacle prevents divine power, and the flame analogy is explicitly conditional on no hindrance. References: II.1.7, II.4.1, II.6.3, II.6.23. See Bounds and restriction.
terminare / finire
terminare / finire. Printed forms: finiri; finit; finita; finitam; finiti; finito; finitum; terminante; termino; terminum.
To limit or bound; a term or limit can also serve as an end. A subject or cause bounds received being, but infinite self-knowledge does not impose an external limit. References: II.4.1, II.4.2, II.6.4, II.10.10. See Bounds and restriction.