From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordFlorentiae means at Florence.
- In the Platonic TheologyFicino reports seeing a German craftsman’s display at Florence.
- In this editionThe supplied English calls tabernaculum a “mechanical display,” an interpretive rendering warranted by the described actions.
- A place to readThe report specifies the connected figures, contrasting motions, and sounds.
Meaning
Florentiae means at Florence. Tabernaculum here names a small constructed display; statuae are figures; pila a ball. Libratae indicates balanced or poised figures. Momentum concerns the ball’s movement, while nutus is a nod or slight directive gesture.
Use in the book
Ficino reports seeing a German craftsman’s display at Florence. Figures attached to one ball perform different motions together: running in opposite directions, rising, bending, crowning, and wounding. Trumpets, horns, and birdsong are also heard. The next unit adds that similar events follow one another from one ball’s movement. The example is therefore both simultaneous and successive, not simply a frozen array moved identically. One simple initiating motion can coordinate diverse results through an arranged mechanism. Ficino applies this to God’s effortless governance through a simple center from which other things depend. The analogy shows coordinated variety; it does not disclose the device’s construction or identify its unnamed maker. Nor does it erase the distinction between an artisan using borrowed matter and a creator causing matter itself.
Selected annotated passages.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The supplied English calls tabernaculum a “mechanical display,” an interpretive rendering warranted by the described actions. It should not be silently expanded into a named clock, church automaton, or historically identified invention. “At Florence we saw” is Ficino’s reported observation, not a new verification.
assurgere / inclinari
assurgere / inclinari. Printed forms: assurgebant; inclinabantur.
Rise up / bend down. Seated and standing figures perform different motions under one arrangement; uniform causation need not mean identical outcomes. References: II.13.13. See Florentine mechanism.
coronare / vulnerare
coronare / vulnerare. Printed forms: coronabant; vulnerabant.
Crown / wound. The contrasting actions belong to the display’s figures; they are reported features, not recommendations about human conduct. References: II.13.13. See Florentine mechanism.
dextra / sinistra / sursum / deorsum
dextra / sinistra / sursum / deorsum. Printed forms: deorsum; dextram; sinistram; sursum.
Right / left / upward / downward. Opposed directions make the variety of coordinated motions explicit in the device and later in descriptions of life. References: II.13.13. See Florentine mechanism.
Florentia / Germanus
Florentia / Germanus. Printed forms: Florentiae; Germani.
Florence / German. Ficino locates the display at Florence and describes its unnamed maker as German; the text does not identify him further. References: II.13.13. See Florentine mechanism.
momentum
momentum. Printed forms: momento.
Movement, instant, or moment according to context. In the mechanism it is one ball’s motion; in the light analogy it expresses immediate reception as opposed to elapsed time. References: II.13.14, III.1.32. See Florentine mechanism.
nervus / nucha
nervus / nucha. Printed forms: nervum; nucam.
Sinew or nerve / nape of the neck. Ficino invokes a reported animal mechanism in which one pull moves many members, before the Florentine device supplies another analogy. References: II.13.12. See Florentine mechanism.
nutus / vibrare
nutus / vibrare. Printed forms: nutu; vibrat.
Nod or slight directive gesture / set in motion. The divine nod extends the mechanism analogy to effortless causal governance through a simple source. References: II.13.14. See Florentine mechanism.
tabernaculum / statua / pila
tabernaculum / statua / pila. Printed forms: pilae; pilam; statuae; tabernaculum.
Constructed display / figure / ball. The connected and balanced figures perform different actions from the movement of one ball. References: II.13.13. See Florentine mechanism.
tuba / cornu / cantus
tuba / cornu / cantus. Printed forms: cantus; cornuum; Tubarum.
Trumpet / horn / song. The report includes sounds alongside movement, widening the variety produced through the device’s arrangement. References: II.13.13. See Florentine mechanism.