From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordInsinuare means inserting or insinuating into; the proposed transfer is rejected.
- In the Platonic TheologyThe final unit blocks three attempted replacements for an enduring knowing soul.
- In this editionThe apparatus preserves imaginem aliam suae similem, “another image like its own,” against later sive similem and adopts corrected Figurare quidem.
- A place to readThree transmission strategies fail for different metaphysical reasons, closing the book.
Meaning
Insinuare means inserting or insinuating into; the proposed transfer is rejected. Figurare forms an image, requiring an agent capable of the act. Perfectus describes an agent’s operative completeness, not moral perfection. Memoriter tenere is retaining in memory.
Use in the book
The final unit blocks three attempted replacements for an enduring knowing soul. First, an image cannot migrate from an old soul into a new one as the former flows away: Ficino invokes the principle that a quality does not pass numerically from one subject into another. Second, the departing soul cannot impress a similar new image in its successor, because an act of formation requires a complete agent and the perishing agent is failing. Third, the incoming soul cannot form itself at the very moment of its birth, when it too is incomplete.
These are distinct failures: transfer of the same quality, productive copying by the former subject and self-formation by the new subject. The conclusion is that a soul flowing like body or quality cannot retain old images and knowledge. Ficino has not merely asserted that memory contents are incorporeal; he has pressed the need for a stable bearer and adequate cause across retention and recognition. The premise about qualities and subjects belongs to his metaphysical account and should remain explicit rather than being passed off as an uncontroversial modern theory of information transfer.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The apparatus preserves imaginem aliam suae similem, “another image like its own,” against later sive similem and adopts corrected Figurare quidem. These readings distinguish copying from numerical migration, precisely the distinction the argument needs.
deficere; perficere
deficere; perficere. Printed forms: deficit; imperfecta; perficere.
To fail, to perfect, and incomplete. The dying prior soul and newly born soul lack the relevant causal completeness for the proposed image-production. References: VI.13.11. See Images, migration and the perfect agent.
figurare; perfectus agens
figurare; perfectus agens. Printed forms: Figurare; perfectum requirit agentem.
To fashion an image; requiring an operatively complete agent. A former soul in the act of failing cannot perfect a replacement by impressing a similar image. References: VI.13.11. See Images, migration and the perfect agent.
formare se ipsam
formare se ipsam. Printed forms: Formare vero se ipsam anima nova nequit.
The new soul cannot form itself at its origin. This third exclusion is distinct from quality migration and from copying by the disappearing earlier subject. References: VI.13.11. See Images, migration and the perfect agent.
imaginem aliam suae similem
imaginem aliam suae similem. Printed forms: imaginem aliam suae similem.
Another image like the former soul’s own. Copying is distinguished from the first strategy’s transfer of the same quality; the edition retains suae against the later sive. References: VI.13.11. See Images, migration and the perfect agent.
imago
imago. Printed forms: imaginem; imagines; imaginibus; imaginum; imago.
An image or likeness; an inferior manifestation can remain genuine at its own level. Mirrors model dependence, the ranked ladder distinguishes image from original, and divine images shine in soul. References: V.6.1, V.10.2, V.12.12, V.14.9, V.15.4. See Image, shadow and ranked truth.
An image or representation, sensible or mental according to context. Internal sense handles bodily residues; the cave displays projected likenesses; the closing memory proof tests images retained by or allegedly transferred between subjects. References: VI.2.1, VI.2.7, VI.2.14, VI.13.11. See Images, migration and the perfect agent.
An image through which something is represented or perceived. Plato’s image is the image of a visible person; it is not a technical reference to a separate Platonic Idea. References: VII.1.1. See Receiving images: wax, seals and mirrors.
insinuare; transire
insinuare; transire. Printed forms: in subiectum novum de vetere subiecto transire; insinuare.
To insert or pass from an old subject into a new one. The first rejected strategy makes the same image migrate numerically, contrary to the rule about qualities and their subjects. References: VI.13.11. See Images, migration and the perfect agent.
memoriter tenere
memoriter tenere. Printed forms: imagines scientiasque tenere memoriter.
To retain images and knowledge in memory. The conclusion links stable cognitive contents to an enduring bearer rather than a soul flowing like body or quality. References: VI.13.11. See Images, migration and the perfect agent.
perfectus; imperfectus; perficere
perfectus; imperfectus; perficere. Printed forms: imperfecta; imperfectae; imperfectum; perfecta; perfecte; perfectissima; perfectum; perficere; perficit; perficitur.
Complete or perfected, incomplete, and bringing to completion. A complete agent is required to form an image, while form perfects matter and reason corrects sense; this is usually operative or metaphysical completion, not moral perfection. References: VI.2.7, VI.2.10, VI.2.12, VI.2.20, VI.7.2, VI.12.1, VI.12.11, VI.13.11. See Images, migration and the perfect agent.