Candles and the hall · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordCandelae are candles, aula a hall, and lumina their lights.
In the Platonic TheologyIn the reported mental-presence theory, many candles illuminate the same whole hall.
In this editionThe edition distinguishes “joined” from “mingled,” and “more manifestly” must remain with the regional actions.
A place to readJoined lights with distinct sources model universal presence and localized manifestation

Meaning

Candelae are candles, aula a hall, and lumina their lights. Iungere joins; permiscere mingles. The contrast means that co-presence does not itself abolish distinguishable sources. Dirigi marks the relation of each light to its own candle.

Use in the book

In the reported mental-presence theory, many candles illuminate the same whole hall. Their lights coexist and are joined, but are not confused into a single indistinguishable source: one can be separated from another. Each remains referred to its own candle even though its illumination extends beyond that candle’s immediate position.

This explains a distinction between the range of a mind’s presence and the region where some of its actions are more manifest. Angelic minds govern; animating minds give life. The example is not a proof that lights or souls are literally fused, and it does not say all minds exercise identical functions everywhere. It works within the earlier thinkers’ theory, which Ficino explicitly closes at the end of the unit.

Places to read

II.6.24Joined lights with distinct sources model universal presence and localized manifestation
II.6.14Distinct virtue-habits and color-images first illustrate presence without confusion

Translation in this edition

The edition distinguishes “joined” from “mingled,” and “more manifestly” must remain with the regional actions. Removing either qualifier turns the comparison into a stronger identity or localization claim.

candela / aula

candela / aula. Printed forms: aula; aulam; candelae; candelas.

Candle and hall. Several lights fill the same hall while each remains related to its own source, modeling co-presence without confusion. References: II.6.24. See Candles and the hall.

confusio / permiscere / iungere

confusio / permiscere / iungere. Printed forms: confusione; iuncta; permixta.

Confusion, mingling, or joining, with union distinguished from loss of identity. Virtue-habits, color-images, and candlelights illustrate multiple presences that remain distinguishable. References: II.6.14, II.6.24. See Candles and the hall.

dirigere / manifestus

dirigere / manifestus. Printed forms: dirigere; diriguntur; manifestius.

To direct toward a region; manifest or conspicuous. More conspicuous local operations are distinguished from the universal presence claimed for minds in the attributed theory. References: II.6.24. See Candles and the hall.