Dependence and receiving

Use in the book

A recipient’s possession does not establish independence. A supposed supreme principle that receives unity or a distinctive property from another would already be composite and dependent. Ficino repeatedly asks where a thing obtains what makes it what it is, not merely where it was located when an event occurred.

Receiving also concerns continuing efficacy. God gives and preserves an angel’s being, act, power of action, and action itself. The angel remains a subordinate agent, not a passive name for God; yet it cannot detach its activity from the source that enables it. The vocabulary is therefore more exact than “one thing affects another”: it distinguishes receiving a constitution, obtaining a power, exercising that power, and continually depending on its preservation.

Places to read

1. II.1.3, II.2.5Receiving from a higher source excludes an alleged principle’s self-sufficiency
2. II.7.14, II.7.15An acquired distinguishing property reveals dependence
3. II.7.23, II.7.24, II.7.25Bestowal and preservation extend from being to subordinate action

Translation in this edition

Sortitur in II.2.5 is “obtains,” not a claim that essence is distributed by chance or lottery. The repeated largitur in II.7.23 deliberately separates what is given even as the causal dependence is unified.

accipere / capere / suscipere

accipere / capere / suscipere. Printed forms: acceperit; accepit; accepta; accipit; capiunt; suscipiendum; suscipit.

To receive, take, or admit a contribution; not necessarily a voluntary acquisition. A creature receives constitution and being; pure nothing has no capacity to receive actuality. References: II.1.3, II.2.5, II.4.5, II.7.18. See Dependence and receiving.

consequi / assequi / nancisci

consequi / assequi / nancisci. Printed forms: assequitur; consequens; consequitur; nanciscantur; nanciscitur.

To attain or obtain; consequens can also mark logical consequence. The world attains divine presence finitely, while the same family introduces conclusions from a preceding premise. References: II.2.8, II.6.11, II.6.14, II.9.5. See Dependence and receiving.

extrinsecus / aliunde

extrinsecus / aliunde. Printed forms: aliunde; extrinseco; extrinsecus.

From outside or elsewhere, marking an origin beyond the thing itself. An externally obtained proper nature excludes being necessary and self-sufficient through oneself. References: II.2.4, II.2.5, II.7.14, II.7.16. See Dependence and receiving.

pendere / dependere

pendere / dependere. Printed forms: dependebit; dependere; pendeant; pendentem; pendet.

To depend upon a sustaining or originating source. Neither a composed principle nor an angel receiving its nature exists necessarily through itself. References: II.2.3, II.3.9, II.4.6, II.7.15. See Dependence and receiving.

provenire / oriri / nasci

provenire / oriri / nasci. Printed forms: nascantur; nascatur; oriuntur; provenientem; provenit.

To originate or arise, with the source specifying dependence. Different features allegedly arise from common nature; the mental-presence theory denies rational spirits’ origin from matter. References: II.2.4, II.2.8, II.6.15, II.7.14. See Dependence and receiving.

sortiri / adipisci

sortiri / adipisci. Printed forms: adipiscitur; sortitur.

To obtain or acquire a share or condition. Obtaining one’s proper nature from elsewhere reveals dependence; no literal drawing of lots is asserted. References: II.2.5, II.7.14, II.9.1. See Dependence and receiving.

Use in the book

V.1023 follows the assertion that soul exists in its own right with an explicit question about its cause. All things remain in being insofar as they relate to the first cause. Their likeness to pure act comes through form rather than matter. A bodily composite therefore relates through one constitutive part, while a corporeal form itself relies upon a higher immaterial source.

The mirror image illustrates the latter dependence: the image hangs from the face whose presence makes it appear. Soul produces bodily qualities through its changing operation, so their relation is mediated through movement and their existence is unstable. By contrast, the soul is form itself and relates through its whole stable essence. The phrase “the essence causes its relation” means it is intrinsically the relational subject and medium; it does not say the soul first creates itself or creates God.

The conclusion combines two sides. God continually supplies, and soul continually receives. Stability thus belongs to a relation that does not depend on a removable bodily intermediary. This also explains why “self-subsisting” and “dependent on God” are compatible in Ficino’s usage.

V.13.17 adds that the power by which God creates is also the power by which he preserves. The soul needs no intermediary to be made and no such intermediary to remain. Its persistence is a continuous causal dependence, not a one-time gift subsequently detached from its source.

Places to read

1. V.10.1, V.10.2, V.10.3The complete chapter contrasts mediated mutable relation with intrinsic stable relation.
2. V.12.12, V.12.13Withdrawal of divine influx is posed as an objection and answered through stability.
3. V.13.17Creation and conservation are attributed to the same divine power.

Translation in this edition

Two variants matter directly. V.10.2 follows M1482’s mutabiliter rather than later mirabiliter: the bodily relation is mutable, not merely marvellous. V.10.3 retains relatio perfectionis rather than ratio perfectionis: the source understands an ellipsis in which relation causes perfection.

bonum / bonitas

bonum / bonitas. Printed forms: bonitate; bonitatis; bono; bonum.

Bonum names the good or what is good; bonitas names goodness. The source invokes goodness as the source and end toward which natural desire is directed. Life and being count as goods; divine goodness is invoked against a destructive withdrawal of the soul's own life. References: V.4.2, V.4.7, V.12.12, V.13.17, V.14.9. See Relation and continuing dependence.

conservare / servare

conservare / servare. Printed forms: conservatorem; conservatrix; conservet; servat; servatur.

To preserve or maintain an effect in being. God's conserving power is the power that created; preservation is therefore not merely the absence of an external attack. References: V.4.2, V.6.1, V.12.12, V.13.17. See Relation and continuing dependence.

dependere / pendere

dependere / pendere. Printed forms: dependeat; dependent; dependet; pendeat; pendet.

Both verbs can mean to depend; pendere also means to hang, an image used for continuing causal dependence. Soul does not depend on matter but depends on God; corporeal forms hang from a superior source like a mirror image from a face. References: V.5.5, V.9.2, V.10.1, V.10.2, V.12.13. See Relation and continuing dependence.

effectrix / conservatrix / corruptrix

effectrix / conservatrix / corruptrix. Printed forms: conservatrix; corruptrix; effectrix.

Producing, preserving and destroying cause, presented as contrasting roles. Ficino challenges whether the cause of life and preservation could also be its destroyer; the question belongs to his argument from divine goodness. References: V.12.12. See Relation and continuing dependence.

egenus / egere / indigere

egenus / egere / indigere. Printed forms: egeat; egena; egeret; eget; indigent; indiget; indigus.

To need or lack a necessary support or cause. Prime matter needs form, bodily work needs a substrate, and soul needs God but no bodily foundation for its essence. References: V.4.1, V.5.9, V.12.3, V.13.5, V.13.13, V.13.17. See Relation and continuing dependence.

nixus / niti

nixus / niti. Printed forms: nititur; nixuque; nixus.

Striving or a sustaining impulse, and the act of striving. Self-preservation is a continuing effort; V.12.11 uses one sustaining act for divine establishing and the soul's subsistence. References: V.6.1, V.8.3, V.12.11. See Relation and continuing dependence.

quatenus / eatenus

quatenus / eatenus. Printed forms: eatenus; quatenus.

Insofar as and to that extent, correlating a condition with what follows. A thing remains in being insofar as it relates to the source; soul's self-adherence is used to explain its continuous act. References: V.9.2, V.10.1. See Relation and continuing dependence.

reflecti / ferri

reflecti / ferri. Printed forms: feruntur; reflectiturque.

To turn back and to be borne toward a destination. The chain from source, through movement, back to good depicts the directional relation of natural desire and action. References: V.4.7. See Relation and continuing dependence.

relatio

relatio. Printed forms: relatio; relationis.

Relation, especially the soul's intrinsic orientation to its preserving cause. The adopted reading makes relation the cause of perfection; later witnesses' ratio would change this local articulation. References: V.10.3. See Relation and continuing dependence.

respectus / referri

respectus / referri. Printed forms: referendo; Refertur; refertur; referuntur; Referuntur; relata; respectum.

Directed relation to a source, and being related through one's nature or through an intermediary. Bodily forms relate through mobile production, while soul relates through stable essence to God. References: V.10.1, V.10.2, V.10.3. See Relation and continuing dependence.

respicere

respicere. Printed forms: respiciant; respiciat; respiciunt; Respiciunt.

To look toward or have directed reference to. The visual verb describes formal likeness and a capacity's orientation to its proper act, rather than literal bodily sight. References: V.10.1, V.13.12. See Relation and continuing dependence.

semel

semel. Printed forms: semel.

Once, in the claim that God preserves what he has given. It marks the completed bestowal without implying that conservation later becomes causally independent. References: V.4.2. See Relation and continuing dependence.

sequi

sequi. Printed forms: sequens; sequentibus; sequi; Sequitur; sequitur.

To follow in inference, causal order or temporal succession. The word can mark a conclusion or the dependence of being on a form's nature; 'follows' must not always be read as later in time. References: V.4.7, V.9.1, V.9.2, V.11.6, V.13.4, V.15.24. See Relation and continuing dependence.

sistere / subsistere

sistere / subsistere. Printed forms: sistat; sistit; subsistat; subsistens; subsistit.

To establish or cause to stand, and to subsist or stand in one's nature. The same sustaining act is described from the divine side as establishing and from the soul's side as subsisting. References: V.12.1, V.12.11, V.12.12. See Relation and continuing dependence.

subtrahere / auferre

subtrahere / auferre. Printed forms: auferendo; subtrahendo; subtraheretur; subtrahit.

To withdraw or take away. The objector suggests destruction by withdrawing influx, while Ficino denies withdrawal of what belongs properly to soul's nature. References: V.4.2, V.12.12, V.12.13. See Relation and continuing dependence.