Exemplars of bodily motion in soul · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordExemplaria are patterns or higher counterparts, not bodily movements copied at a smaller scale.
In the Platonic TheologyThe catalogue maps each bodily motion onto psychic activity.
In this editionThe edition retains the whole list rather than reducing it to “thought is movement.”
A place to readEvery psychic exemplar and the second directional scheme is individually specified.

Meaning

Exemplaria are patterns or higher counterparts, not bodily movements copied at a smaller scale. Reminisci and oblivisci are recollecting and forgetting; colligere and distrahi gather or scatter attention. Resolvere traces an effect back into its cause, while deducere derives an effect from a cause.

Use in the book

The catalogue maps each bodily motion onto psychic activity. Attachment to divine things exemplifies generation and to mortal things corruption; recollection increase and forgetting decrease; changing affections alteration; sudden insight or self-collection condensation; discursive ranging or distraction rarefaction. Initial contact with external objects is straight progression, causal return and derivation or self-contemplation circular movement. These are analogues of activity, not literal geometrical displacements.

The directions are then refined: toward body and sense is straight, toward oneself or angel oblique, toward God as origin and end circular; universals are upward and particulars downward; opposed differences of a genus are right and left; causes and effects are forward and backward. This repeated spatial vocabulary expresses intellectual relations. The closing inference calls soul a fountain of motions and explains the derivative self-alteration, nourishment, growth and locomotion of living bodies. Its self-generation and self-corruption remain expressly qualified. Recollection as increase does not make soul physically bigger, a distinction the next chapter will exploit.

Places to read

VI.12.19Every psychic exemplar and the second directional scheme is individually specified.
VI.12.20The fountain image concludes with qualified self-change and derived living motion.

Translation in this edition

The edition retains the whole list rather than reducing it to “thought is movement.” Quodammodo, ut ita dixerim and quasi in VI.12.20 protect the analogy, including the final “as though” spontaneous motion belonged to life.

dextera; sinistra; ante; retro

dextera; sinistra; ante; retro. Printed forms: Ad dexteram; ante et retro; sinistram.

Right/left and forward/backward as intellectual directions. The former mark opposed differences within a kind, the latter natural causes and effects. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

discurrere; distrahi

discurrere; distrahi. Printed forms: discurrit; distrahitur.

To range successively and be scattered among many things. The two uses give rarefaction an intellectual or attentional counterpart, not an unequivocally negative sense in every instance. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

exemplar

exemplar. Printed forms: exemplar; exemplares; exemplaria; motionum corporalium exemplaria.

An exemplary pattern, whether in the painter's mind or in the account of divine Ideas. The image explains determination by a pattern without making the pattern a bodily ingredient. References: V.13.16, V.13.18. See Ariston, sculptor and painter.

A higher pattern or counterpart of bodily motion. Psychic generation, increase and movement are analogical activities, not literal bodily processes within soul. References: VI.12.19, VI.12.20. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

haerere

haerere. Printed forms: divinis haeret; mortalibus.

To cleave or adhere to an object. Attachment to divine things exemplifies generation, attachment to mortal things corruption, in the psychic mapping. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

intueri; colligere

intueri; colligere. Printed forms: intuetur; sese colligit.

To behold directly and gather oneself together. Sudden insight and collected attention furnish psychic counterparts of condensation. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

rectum; obliquum; circulus

rectum; obliquum; circulus. Printed forms: In circulum; In obliquum; in rectum.

Straight, oblique and circular psychic directions. They map respectively outward/bodily attention, self or angel, and God as beginning and end in the second scheme. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

reflecti

reflecti. Printed forms: in se angelumve reflectitur; in se ipsam considerandam reflectitur.

To turn back in consideration of oneself or an angel. The object and argumentative setting distinguish this psychic turning from mechanical bending. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

reminisci; oblivisci

reminisci; oblivisci. Printed forms: obliviscitur; reminiscitur.

To recollect and forget. These supply exemplars of increase and decrease without enlarging or shrinking the soul’s substance physically. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

resolvere; deducere

resolvere; deducere. Printed forms: a causa deducit effectum; effectum resolvit in causam.

To resolve an effect into its cause and derive an effect from a cause. These reciprocal reasonings form one kind of circular activity alongside reflection upon oneself. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

spontaneus; gradi

spontaneus; gradi. Printed forms: gradiantur; gradiendum; spontaneus motus.

Spontaneous movement and proceeding or walking. Living bodies derive the capacity to move according to judgement through soul; the final statement remains qualified by quasi. References: VI.12.20. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

sursum; deorsum; extra; intra

sursum; deorsum; extra; intra. Printed forms: Deorsum; deorsum; extra; extrinsecus; interius; intrinsecus; superne; Sursum; sursum.

Upward, downward, beyond, inwardly and outwardly, as physical or analogical directions. The same directions can describe elemental movement, attention to universals or bodily things, and inward causal presence; they do not always locate soul spatially. References: VI.2.1, VI.2.3, VI.2.14, VI.11.2, VI.12.12, VI.12.19, VI.13.9. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.

universale; particulare

universale; particulare. Printed forms: particularia; universalia.

Universal and particular objects of consideration. Upward and downward name movement between these levels rather than physical altitude. References: VI.12.19. See Exemplars of bodily motion in soul.