Paths and prescribed ends · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordVia and trames are a way or path; finis and terminus can be an end, goal, or boundary.
In the Platonic TheologyAn ordered agent needs a route proportioned to its end.
In this editionThe translation uses “end,” “destination,” and “limit” according to context.
A place to readPaths are measured relative to an anticipated end.

Meaning

Via and trames are a way or path; finis and terminus can be an end, goal, or boundary. Praescribere appoints or sets an end in advance; peragere carries a work through. The road imagery makes directed completion visible.

Use in the book

An ordered agent needs a route proportioned to its end. Ficino’s address to Lucretius asks whether aimless movement repeatedly follows one straight path to one fixed destination. The contrast rests on stable orientation, not merely on the geometric straightness of any particular movement. Natural bodies are said to reach prescribed ends without understanding their own motion; the archer supplies their missing purposive source. Living structures likewise seek and return to fitting limits at fitting times. When soul turns into itself, however, end and beginning coincide: circular return rather than forward travel models its continuity. The vocabulary of an end must therefore be distinguished from a temporal cessation. A circuit can have a finis without its activity coming to an ultimate stop.

Selected annotated passages.

Places to read

II.11.25Paths are measured relative to an anticipated end.
II.13.9Bodies have a prescribed end they cannot prescribe for themselves.
II.13.15Aimless wandering contrasts with a fixed route and destination.
III.2.26The same point functions as the circuit’s end and beginning.

Translation in this edition

The translation uses “end,” “destination,” and “limit” according to context. Praescriptus can mean assigned or prescribed; it does not establish a written law or verbal instruction received by a body.

peragere

peragere. Printed forms: peragant.

Carry through or complete. Natural bodies are said very often to accomplish their characteristic works as well as they can. References: II.13.9. See Paths and prescribed ends.

praescribere

praescribere. Printed forms: praescribere; praescribet; praescriptum.

Prescribe, assign, or set in advance. The verb concerns determining an action’s end; unknowing bodies have prescribed ends without prescribing them to themselves. References: II.12.7, II.13.9. See Paths and prescribed ends.

trames / oberrare

trames / oberrare. Printed forms: oberras; tramite.

Path or track / wander about. Aimless movement supplies the contrast to stable movement toward a prescribed destination. References: II.13.15. See Paths and prescribed ends.

via

via. Printed forms: viam; vias.

Path, route, or means. The route is assessed for its proportion to an intended good; the image connects cognition with practical direction. References: II.11.25, II.11.26. See Paths and prescribed ends.