From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordPrimum mobile or primum quod mobile means the first nature encountered as movable in the descent from God.
- In the Platonic TheologyWhen Ficino descends from God through angel, the first movable nature he reaches is soul.
- In this edition“Movable through itself” describes soul’s intrinsic mode and does not remove its dependence on higher causes.
- A place to readSoul is the first movable after God and angel, with bodily self-motion as a sign.
Meaning
Primum mobile or primum quod mobile means the first nature encountered as movable in the descent from God. Here it is soul, not simply the name of an outer physical sphere.
Use in the book
When Ficino descends from God through angel, the first movable nature he reaches is soul. He therefore calls soul the first movable and argues that it is movable through itself. Here the expression identifies soul's rank and its role as the source of temporal operation; it does not simply name an outer physical sphere. The claim remains compatible with soul's dependence on higher causes for actuality and direction. Its own nature supplies the successive manner in which its activity unfolds.
Further passage references. III.1.23–26234; III.1.28–31234
Places to read
- III.1.23Soul is the first movable after God and angel, with bodily self-motion as a sign.
- III.1.25–262Regress and mediation arguments require a nature that moves itself and awakens inert body.
Translation in this edition
“Movable through itself” describes soul’s intrinsic mode and does not remove its dependence on higher causes. III.1.23 explicitly glosses the Pythagorean self-moving number as manifold nature mutable through its own property.
ex-cogitare / fateri
ex-cogitare / fateri. Printed forms: excogitemus; fateri.
To conceive an explanatory mover; to acknowledge a required conclusion. Visible motion and the rejection of an endless series motivate a first-moving sphere with an intrinsic principle. References: IV.1.53. See First movable.
impulsus / sua sponte
impulsus / sua sponte. Printed forms: impulsu; sua sponte.
Impulse / of its own accord. Unanimated bodies are contrasted with bodies displaying self-directed movement through soul; the latter is an image of primary self-motion. References: III.1.23. See First movable.