From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordComplexio is a bodily constitution or temperament, especially the proportion of constituent qualities.
- In the Platonic TheologyCavalcanti’s second position is a quality spread through the soul-body, such as heat or a warm constitution.
- In this editionThe apparatus reports that P1641 omits the constitution-generated branch in VI.1.5; the reading text retains both branches with M1482 and G1559.
- A place to readDistributed constitution and an organ-localized luminous point remain distinct theories.
Meaning
Complexio is a bodily constitution or temperament, especially the proportion of constituent qualities. Qualitas is a qualifying determination. Harmonia names an arrangement or proportion of bodily parts, rather than necessarily audible music. A punctum lucidum is a luminous point; its metaphysical status depends on whether it remains tied to quality, organ or matter.
Use in the book
Cavalcanti’s second position is a quality spread through the soul-body, such as heat or a warm constitution. Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes, Antipater and Posidonius are said to seem to have intended this: voluisse videntur preserves a qualification. The third assigns a luminous point to the heart or brain, governing other members from that seat; Chrysippus, Archelaus and Heraclides of Pontus are its reported authorities. This point remains associated with a quality and subtle body, despite appearing purer than a distributed warmth.
The fourth removes determinate position and makes the principle whole in every member, but retains dependence on matter. Ficino carefully allows two versions: constitution itself generates the principle, or a producer draws it from matter’s latent resources and binds it to matter. Xenophanes of Colophon, Asclepiades, Aristoxenus and Critolaus are associated with bodily motive power or harmony. The fifth position must therefore add independence of material origin, not merely indivisibility or whole presence. Later arguments against temperament address an explanatory source that flows with the humours, not only the cruder claim that the soul is bodily bulk.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The apparatus reports that P1641 omits the constitution-generated branch in VI.1.5; the reading text retains both branches with M1482 and G1559. Its viscera, semen, incohatio, proportio and gremium preserve the imagery of latent birth from matter. “Constitution” avoids the modern skin-colour sense of “complexion.”
affigere; situs
affigere; situs. Printed forms: affixum; determinato situ.
To attach; determinate position. The fourth theory removes attachment to any member while retaining causal dependence on body or matter. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
assignare; residere; gubernare
assignare; residere; gubernare. Printed forms: assignatum; gubernans; residens.
To assign a seat, reside there, and govern from it. The sequence gives the localized principle its place and delegated control over other members. References: VI.1.4. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
Chrysippus; Archelaus; Heraclides
Chrysippus; Archelaus; Heraclides. Printed forms: Archelaum; Chrysippum; Heraclidem Ponticum.
Authorities associated here with the locally seated luminous point. Ficino’s reported grouping should not be treated as evidence that all three held an identical detailed physiology. References: VI.1.4. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
complexio calida
complexio calida. Printed forms: complexio calida.
A warm bodily constitution or temperament. This describes the second reported account more precisely than mere temperature and is not skin complexion. References: VI.1.3. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
cor; cerebrum
cor; cerebrum. Printed forms: cerebro; corde.
Heart and brain as rival proposed ruling seats. They are examples of a nobler bodily part in the localized-point theory, not a final anatomical localization endorsed by Ficino. References: VI.1.4. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
educere; eruere; addicere
educere; eruere; addicere. Printed forms: addixerit; eduxerit; eruerit.
To bring out, extract into light, and bind over or assign entirely. The first two express origin from matter; the last its continued subjection to matter. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
harmonia
harmonia. Printed forms: harmonia.
An ordered proportion or concord of bodily parts. It names one formulation of the fourth position, alongside bodily motive power; it need not mean audible musical sound. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
materiae potentia
materiae potentia. Printed forms: materiae potentia.
Matter’s latent capacity from which a form might be drawn. The rejected fourth account permits a producer distinct from temperament but still makes soul arise from material resources. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
punctum lucidum
punctum lucidum. Printed forms: punctum aliquod lucidum.
A luminous point within a privileged qualitative and bodily seat. The third position makes it govern other members from heart or brain, preserving local dependence despite its apparent purity. References: VI.1.4. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
qualitas
qualitas. Printed forms: qualitas; Qualitas; qualitate; qualitatem; qualitates; Qualitates; qualitati; qualitatibus; qualitatis; qualitatum.
Quality, a form or power inhering in a subject and, when bodily, extended and altered with it. Quality has three causes in V.523456789's analysis and serves as an instrument of natural action; it is not automatically a moral quality. References: V.3.1, V.4.10, V.5.3, V.5.4, V.5.9, V.14.9. See Four causes and graded dependence.
A determination qualifying an underlying body. The second theory replaces bodily bulk by a quality spread through it; the third localizes a point belonging to that quality. References: VI.1.3, VI.1.4. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
A characterizing quality whose mode of inherence matters for the subject possessing it. A divisible body's quality is spatially distributed; indivisible virtue is therefore used to establish a nonbodily subject. References: VIII.3.1, VIII.3.8, VIII.10.2, VIII.14.1. See Virtue as an indivisible quality.
quantitas; qualitas
quantitas; qualitas. Printed forms: qualitas; qualitatem; qualitates; qualitatibus; qualitatis; quantitate; quantitatem; quantitatis.
Quantity as measurable extent and quality as determination. Body’s extension differs from the qualities it bears; rejecting one soul-body model does not automatically refute quality or temperament models. References: VI.1.3, VI.1.4, VI.2.2, VI.4.4, VI.6.4, VI.8.3, VI.8.5, VI.13.8. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
semen; incohatio; proportio
semen; incohatio; proportio. Printed forms: incohatione; proportione; semine.
Seed, beginning and proportion as alternative descriptions of latent material preparation. These are the resources from which the fourth account draws its supposed soul; they do not supply the fifth position’s causal independence. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
spargere
spargere. Printed forms: sparsa.
To scatter or spread across parts. The quality of the second theory is distributed with the little body’s parts rather than wholly present without division. References: VI.1.3. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
videri velle
videri velle. Printed forms: voluisse videntur.
To appear to have intended a position. Ficino qualifies the attribution to the named Stoic figures; it is not an unreserved claim of a direct quotation. References: VI.1.3. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
vis agilis
vis agilis. Printed forms: vis quaedam corporis agilis ad movendum.
An active bodily power for producing motion. This is the other formulation paired with harmony, still dependent on bodily nature. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
viscera; gremium
viscera; gremium. Printed forms: naturali gremio; visceribus.
Entrails and natural womb or lap, used as images of matter’s generative interior. The language depicts dependence on the material source, not anatomical organs of a literal substance called matter. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
Xenophanes; Asclepiades; Aristoxenus; Critolaus
Xenophanes; Asclepiades; Aristoxenus; Critolaus. Printed forms: Aristoxenus; Asclepiades; Critolausque; Xenophanes Colophonius.
The thinkers reported under the matter-dependent power or harmony account. The correction Critolausque supplies the conjunction; Xenophanes is explicitly of Colophon and differs from VI.1.2’s printed Xenophantes. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
Zeno; Cleantes; Antipater; Posidonius
Zeno; Cleantes; Antipater; Posidonius. Printed forms: Antipater; Cleantes; Posidonius; Zeno Cittieus.
The thinkers associated with a distributed warm quality. The reading text retains Cittieus and Cleantes as printed orthographic forms rather than creating different philosophical persons. References: VI.1.3. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus (authorities and interlocutors)
Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus. Ficino reports their account of life as a bodily temperament. Aristoxenus also figures in the classification of dependent soul-principles and in the later musical-harmony objection. The rejection concerns harmony as the sufficient producer or identity of soul. References: V.15.8, VI.1.5, VII.10.1. See Temperament and harmony; Constitution, localized point and harmony; Harmony and the strings.
Localized-point authorities (authorities and interlocutors)
Localized-point authorities. Chrysippus, Archelaus and Heraclides of Pontus are assigned to the account of soul as a luminous qualitative point in heart or brain. The classificatory role is distinct from the later claim of a nonlocal, whole-present soul. References: VI.1.4. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.
Nonlocal but materially dependent authorities (authorities and interlocutors)
Nonlocal but materially dependent authorities. Xenophanes of Colophon, Asclepiades, Aristoxenus and Critolaus occur under a principle present throughout the body without spatial confinement, yet still dependent on material constitution or extracted from matter by an external producer. Whole presence alone therefore does not reach the fifth, divine account. References: VI.1.5. See Constitution, localized point and harmony; Divine production and the third essence.
Stoic constitution authorities (authorities and interlocutors)
Stoic constitution authorities. Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes, Antipater and Posidonius are said to appear to have held the warm-constitution account. Ficino’s qualifying language is retained rather than converted into an independently certain historical attribution. References: VI.1.3. See Constitution, localized point and harmony.