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Concrete images crafts and natural examples

Fountains, drawing and infusion

fons; haurire; bibere; exuberare; infundere; influxus; effundere; effluere

Fons is a fountain or spring.

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordFons is a fountain or spring.
  • In the Platonic TheologyThe fountain of motion at V.12345 cannot run dry without ending derivative movement.
  • In this editionThe source retains the exact water-language sequence rather than translating every verb simply as “causes.”
  • A place to readFountain names moving source and formal source in different arguments.

Meaning

Fons is a fountain or spring. Haurire is drawing a supply; bibere drinking; exuberare overflowing. Infundere pours into, effundere pours out, and influxus names the incoming flow. The verbs distinguish source, communication and recipient even when all use liquid imagery.

Use in the book

The fountain of motion at V.12345 cannot run dry without ending derivative movement. In V.42345678910 it is rational soul as moving and forming matter. V.9234 speaks instead of form as fountain of being, explaining why a dependent composite has its determinate existence through form. These phrases operate at different explanatory levels; every fons is not thereby God or an absolutely first cause.

V.10.3 gives the most sustained reciprocal image. God overflows, soul draws, and it drinks being. The joint attention to what is drawn and the one drawing makes the continuing relation vivid. The soul’s own stable receptivity is as important to the argument as the source’s constancy.

V.12.12 proposes a counter-image: perhaps God could withdraw the influx just as a face’s withdrawal removes its mirror image. Ficino refuses that conclusion, then asks whether source or recipient changes. Neither can do so in the required way on his premises. V.12.13 thus identifies life as the first actuality entering essence and insists that both reception and infusion persist.

In V.14.8 soul pours irrational life toward body as a shadow; V.15.3–42 presents divine radiance as the reflection and outpouring of life. These are accounts of communicated dependence, not material liquids moving between containers. One should also keep the outward flow of an operation, such as heating in V.13.10, distinct from the enduring being of the agent.

Places to read

  1. V.1.1, V.4.10, V.9.1Fountain names moving source and formal source in different arguments.
  2. V.10.3Overflow, drawing and drinking articulate persistent relation.
  3. V.12.12, V.12.13The withdrawal objection is distinguished from Ficino’s answer.
  4. V.14.8, V.15.3, V.15.4Derivative animation and divine radiance extend the communication imagery.

Translation in this edition

The source retains the exact water-language sequence rather than translating every verb simply as “causes.” The mirror’s possible disappearance in V.12.12 belongs to an objection. It is not Ficino’s final assertion that God may interrupt the soul’s life.

bibere

bibere. Printed forms: bibit.

To drink. The soul's drinking of being is a metaphor for continuous reception, not bodily nutrition. References: V.10.3. See Fountains, drawing and infusion.

effundere

effundere. Printed forms: effundit; effusio.

To pour out or let flow away; effusio names an outpouring. Circular movement does not dissipate its powers, while divine radiance is positively described as life's outpouring; loss and communication are distinct uses. References: V.1.4, V.15.3. See Fountains, drawing and infusion.

exuberare

exuberare. Printed forms: exuberat.

To overflow abundantly. God's constant overflow is paired with the soul's constant drawing, distinguishing source and recipient. References: V.10.3. See Fountains, drawing and infusion.

fons essendi

fons essendi. Printed forms: Fons; fontem essendi.

The fountain or source of being, here form's role in giving determinate existence. The formal explanation is not an assertion that every form is the absolutely uncaused God. References: V.4.10, V.9.1. See Fountains, drawing and infusion.

haurire

haurire. Printed forms: hauriatur; haurientis; haurire; haurit; hausti.

To draw or drink in a supply. The soul continually draws being or life; the withdrawal objection asks whether receiver or giver could stop. References: V.8.3, V.10.3, V.12.12. See Fountains, drawing and infusion.

influxus

influxus. Printed forms: influxu; influxum; influxus.

Influx, the continuing communication of divine life and being. The objection of withdrawing it is presented and answered; it should not be mistaken for Ficino's settled conclusion. References: V.4.2, V.11.2, V.12.12. See Fountains, drawing and infusion.

infundere

infundere. Printed forms: infundendo; infundendum; infundere; infundit; infundunt.

To pour into or communicate. Beneficent power is infused into soul, and life is continually communicated to its essence. References: V.6.1, V.12.12, V.12.13. See Fountains, drawing and infusion.