DiotimosReading Desk

Care order and governing

Burden labor and ease

sollicitari; onerari; cura; labore; sollicitudine; facillime; facillimo nutu; vibrat

Sollicitari means to be troubled or made anxious; onerari to be burdened.

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordSollicitari means to be troubled or made anxious; onerari to be burdened.
  • In the Platonic TheologyThe Epicurean objection imagines divine action as burdensome planning and work.
  • In this edition“Deliberation” and “choice” are unnecessary as separate supplements to divine being in this argument.
  • A place to readThe anticipated Epicurean objection and the response from unlabored natural action

Meaning

Sollicitari means to be troubled or made anxious; onerari to be burdened. Cura can be care or concern, labor effort or toil, and nutus a nod or directive gesture. Facillime and facillimo emphasize ease.

Use in the book

The Epicurean objection imagines divine action as burdensome planning and work. Ficino answers by distinguishing action through being from an additional process of deliberation. Sunlight, fire’s heating, and soul’s bodily nutrition illustrate operations that do not wait for choices about every effect. Divine action is easier still, since it proceeds through pure being rather than an essential power distinguished from being.

The “easiest nod” is an image of effortless direction. God’s being is likened to a simple center from which dependent things extend like lines; a minimal gesture sets them in motion. The phrasing should not be literalized into a bodily head or into intermittent commands. Nor does the rejection of burden deny intelligence: II.9.13 identifies divine operation with voluntary cognition.

Places to read

  1. II.8.1, II.8.4The anticipated Epicurean objection and the response from unlabored natural action
  2. II.8.5The nod and center images explain effortless action through pure being
  3. II.9.13Voluntary cognition prevents ease from becoming mindless action

Translation in this edition

“Deliberation” and “choice” are unnecessary as separate supplements to divine being in this argument. The passage does not license replacing “intelligent” with “automatic” in a modern technological sense.

agere: egerit

agere: egerit. Printed forms: egerit.

May have done or should do, a perfect form of agere. The anticipated Epicurean objection concerns God doing many things and becoming burdened; egerit does not mean needing. References: II.8.1. See Burden labor and ease.

cura / labor / facilis

cura / labor / facilis. Printed forms: cura; facilior; facillime; facillimo; laborat; labore.

Concern, toil, and ease. Operation through pure being is easier than operation through essential power, itself easier than deliberation. References: II.8.4, II.8.5, II.9.20. See Burden labor and ease.

sollicitare / sollicitudo / onerare

sollicitare / sollicitudo / onerare. Printed forms: onerari; sollicitari; sollicitudine.

To trouble or worry, anxiety, and burden. The imagined costs of many divine actions are answered by effortless activity through being. References: II.8.1, II.8.5. See Burden labor and ease.