DiotimosReading Desk

Bodies qualities and living processes

Head, heart, and members

cor, corde, cerebro, iecori, artus, articulos, membra, caput.

Cor is heart, cerebrum brain, iecur liver; caput head.

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordCor is heart, cerebrum brain, iecur liver; caput head.
  • In the Platonic TheologyThe Pythagorean excursion compares the world's twelve members and many joints with a descending organization of souls.
  • In this edition“Members,” “joints,” and “heart” retain the bodily comparisons.
  • A place to readcosmic members, zodiacal hearts, and human brain-heart-liver assignments belong to the marked numerical excursion

Meaning

Cor is heart, cerebrum brain, iecur liver; caput head. Artus and articuli can name limbs and their joints, while membra is a broader word for members. The bodily vocabulary provides both reported physiological assignments and comparisons of cosmic hierarchy.

Use in the book

The Pythagorean excursion compares the world's twelve members and many joints with a descending organization of souls. A principal star is pictured as the heart of each zodiacal creature and the seat of its principal soul. In the immediately following classification of human lives, reason is assigned to brain, anger to heart, and desire to liver. These are different uses of “heart”: the zodiacal heart identifies a ruling center, while the human heart is assigned one faculty within a tripartite physiological arrangement.

Later the world's contrary members cooperate through one life, and the parts of animal bodies are described as furnished with distinct organs. The “head” of mind and reason in celestial soul is again hierarchical: soul's unity is the head of its mind, and mind the head of reason. That language orders dependence rather than placing a literal brain inside an incorporeal soul.

Places to read

  1. IV.1.42–4423cosmic members, zodiacal hearts, and human brain-heart-liver assignments belong to the marked numerical excursion
  2. IV.1.79 and IV.1.82–832organs differentiate bodies while common life unites the world's members
  3. IV.2.11“head” marks higher direction within the returning celestial soul

Translation in this edition

“Members,” “joints,” and “heart” retain the bodily comparisons. They should not be silently converted into modern anatomical claims or conflated with an invariant occult correspondence system.

artus / articulus

artus / articulus. Printed forms: articulos; artus.

Members and joints. The world's bodily articulation is compared with nested groupings of souls in the numerical argument. References: IV.1.42. See Head, heart, and members.

caput mentis / rationis

caput mentis / rationis. Printed forms: caput rationis; mentis est caput.

The head or directing principle of mind and reason. The hierarchy is nonbodily: unity directs mind and mind directs reason in the soul's outflow and return. References: IV.2.11. See Head, heart, and members.

cerebrum / cor / iecur

cerebrum / cor / iecur. Printed forms: cerebro; cordi; iecori.

Brain, heart, and liver. Reason, anger, and desire are assigned to these organs in the reported twelve-life classification. References: IV.1.44. See Head, heart, and members.

collocare / assignare

collocare / assignare. Printed forms: assignare; assignatam; collocavimus.

To place or assign a role. Soul is placed in the middle, a determinate cause is assigned to convergence, and reason is assigned to the brain; the verb itself does not determine whether the location is spatial or explanatory. References: IV.1.1, IV.1.8, IV.1.44. See Head, heart, and members.