Dense, subtle and fifth body · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordCrassum is dense or gross, subtile physically fine, rarum rarefied.
In the Platonic TheologyDense water or earth appears unfit to fill and move all parts readily.
In this editionQuintum is numerically and philosophically specific: it is an imagined fifth body beyond the four elements.
A place to readDense, rarefied and fifth-body proposals undergo the same causal test.

Meaning

Crassum is dense or gross, subtile physically fine, rarum rarefied. Penetrare and implere are penetrating and filling. Superadditus means added beyond a proposed base; it does not itself determine whether the added principle is accidental or substantial.

Use in the book

Dense water or earth appears unfit to fill and move all parts readily. Fire or air seems more promising because of physical rarity. Ficino nevertheless asks whether the posited fire is soul insofar as fire or for a further reason. If the former, all fire and fiery things are alive. If the latter, the explanatory soul has been sought beyond fire’s mere bodily nature. The same test applies to air.

A fifth exceedingly subtle body beyond the four elements does not escape. If it vivifies through matter common to every body, every body becomes soul; if through superadded power, the opponent has conceded something “in some manner” incorporeal. The qualification marks the limited immediate conclusion. In the wider sequence substantial form, indivisibility, whole presence and freedom from material origin still require their own arguments. Subtlety is accordingly a possible property of a bodily vehicle, never a sufficient synonym for spiritual substance.

Places to read

VI.6.1, VI.6.2, VI.6.3Dense, rarefied and fifth-body proposals undergo the same causal test.
VI.13.7The very fineness needed for penetration becomes a problem for enduring memory.

Translation in this edition

Quintum is numerically and philosophically specific: it is an imagined fifth body beyond the four elements. The edition retains quodammodo before incorpoream and the base witness’s conditional detur, keeping a concession distinct from an assertion.

corpus

corpus. Printed forms: corpora; corpore; corpori; corporibus; corporis; corporum; corpus.

Body as extended corporeal reality, and in context the visible organism or a hypothetical subtle animating body. The arguments often isolate body precisely as body, not the whole living composite including soul; quantity, division and causal passivity are tested on that basis. References: VI.1.2, VI.2.1, VI.2.2, VI.4.1, VI.9.1. See Dense, subtle and fifth body.

Body considered as extended, divisible and materially conditioned. The point-and-extension dilemmas concern the proposed bodily status of mind, while food and instrument examples concern its relation to the organism. References: VIII.2.1, VIII.4.1, VIII.5.1, VIII.6.1. See Bodily points and the seat of understanding.

crassus; subtilis; rarus

crassus; subtilis; rarus. Printed forms: crassa; crassum; subtile rarumque.

Dense, fine and rarefied as bodily textures. Dense bodies seem unfit for permeation, but rarefaction does not itself explain life or become incorporeality. References: VI.6.1. See Dense, subtle and fifth body.

dare; concedere

dare; concedere. Printed forms: Si primum detur.

If the first alternative is granted. The conditional introduces a temporary premise for reductio and must not be converted into Ficino’s own conclusion. References: VI.6.3. See Dense, subtle and fifth body.

ignis; aer; aqua

ignis; aer; aqua. Printed forms: aer; aere; aerem; aeris; aqua; aquam; igne; ignem; ignis.

Fire, air and water as elements and illustrative bodies in Ficino’s natural philosophy. They occur in rejected soul-body theories, adjacent-sphere analogies and the cold-water objection; not every mention is an endorsed identification of soul with an element. References: VI.1.2, VI.2.24, VI.6.2, VI.12.13. See Dense, subtle and fifth body.

ignitus

ignitus. Printed forms: ignita.

Fiery or affected by fire. If fire precisely as fire were soul, every fiery thing would be alive, the unwanted consequence of the hypothesis. References: VI.6.2. See Dense, subtle and fifth body.

penetrare; implere

penetrare; implere. Printed forms: implere; penetrare.

To penetrate and fill. These are required animating functions used to test the suitability of a hypothetical soul-body. References: VI.6.1. See Dense, subtle and fifth body.

quintum corpusculum

quintum corpusculum. Printed forms: quintum aliquod tenuissimumque corpusculum.

A fifth exceptionally subtle body beyond the four elements. The proposed escape repeats the problem of whether matter or a superadded power explains animation. References: VI.6.3. See Dense, subtle and fifth body.