Infection, lameness and Lethe · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordInficere can stain, imbue or infect; in these passages it describes form’s impairment in matter.
In the Platonic TheologyQuality retains form’s activity but is divided and impeded in the “womb of matter.”
In this edition“Infect” and “taint” are causal metaphors, not diagnoses.
A place to readThe contamination metaphor spells out three losses suffered by material form

Meaning

Inficere can stain, imbue or infect; in these passages it describes form’s impairment in matter. Claudicare is to limp, here to act inadequately. Mergere plunges beneath a surface; roborare strengthens. Letheo qualifies a river used in an explicitly comparative image.

Use in the book

Quality retains form’s activity but is divided and impeded in the “womb of matter.” Ficino calls this a taint: simplicity becomes divisibility, activity becomes liability to passion, and agility becomes ineptitude. He later says quality “limps” because, from its birth, it is scattered through material dimensions and plunged “as it were” into Lethe. The metaphor marks lost effective independence; the passage does not offer a literal river as a physical ingredient in matter. A higher living cause must strengthen and direct the impaired quality. The movement from infection and lameness to reinforcement gives a vivid causal account of why local action is real but insufficient.

Places to read

I.3.1The contamination metaphor spells out three losses suffered by material form
I.3.20–212Lameness and the Lethe simile characterize inadequate action
I.3.22Strengthening by a living source answers the inadequacy
I.3.32A maker mingled with and tainted by its work cannot be the supreme architect

Translation in this edition

“Infect” and “taint” are causal metaphors, not diagnoses. The printed quasi and quodammodo constrain the Lethe comparison. The supplied passages name the river without explaining a full mythological narrative, so this article does not supply one as though Ficino had told it.

claudico

claudico. Printed forms: claudicat.

To limp, figuratively to act inadequately. Quality’s failure of complete efficacy calls for direction by a superior substance; it is neither literal lameness nor total inactivity. References: I.3.20, I.3.21. See Infection, lameness and Lethe.

inficio / inquino

inficio / inquino. Printed forms: inficiente; inficitur; inquinetur.

To taint or impair in a mixture. Material form loses simplicity, unhindered action and agility; infection is metaphorical causal language rather than a medical diagnosis. References: I.3.1, I.3.21. See Infection, lameness and Lethe.

Letheus / mergo

Letheus / mergo. Printed forms: Letheo flumine; mergitur.

The Lethean river and being plunged into it. Quality’s scattering through matter is compared, with quasi, to immersion in Lethe; the simile marks impaired power rather than a physical cosmological river. References: I.3.21. See Infection, lameness and Lethe.

obnoxius / ineptus

obnoxius / ineptus. Printed forms: inepta; obnoxia.

Liable or subject to something, and ill-suited. Form becomes liable to passion and less agile when divided in matter; the adjectives identify impairment, not the complete absence of form. References: I.3.1. See Infection, lameness and Lethe.

roboro / duco

roboro / duco. Printed forms: ducitur; Roboratur; roboretur.

To strengthen and guide. A higher living source reinforces and directs quality; this answers the preceding image of its lameness. References: I.3.21, I.3.22. See Infection, lameness and Lethe.