Procession

From the book

Stobaeus, Volume I

John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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πρόοδος

proodos

Proodos is a going forward or coming forth.

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordProodos is a going forward or coming forth.
In StobaeusThe survey describes souls’ first procession as arising with creative sowing and accompanied by their recipients: world, heavenly spheres, and elements.
In this edition“Procession” is the conventional technical rendering; “coming forth” explains it without assuming material outflow.
A place to beginFirst procession accompanies creative sowing and the constitution of recipients.

English renderings: procession; going forth

Meaning

Proodos is a going forward or coming forth. In later philosophical accounts it can name the emergence of realities from their causes.

Use in the book

The survey describes souls’ first procession as arising with creative sowing and accompanied by their recipients: world, heavenly spheres, and elements. Procession is distinguished from the later descents associated with particular allotments. The sequence gives it a structural role within creation.

Places to read

I.49.39.3First procession accompanies creative sowing and the constitution of recipients.

Translation in this edition

“Procession” is the conventional technical rendering; “coming forth” explains it without assuming material outflow.

Source note

Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 377. The compressed list shifts grammatical number. The translation supplies the understood souls and recipients without identifying souls with the elements themselves.

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Procession and return

profectio, conversio; procedere, converti; implicare, explicare, effundere, refluere, reformare, restituere

Profectio names going forth or derivation; conversio a turning toward.

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordProfectio names going forth or derivation; conversio a turning toward.
In the Platonic TheologyFicino links the source of beings with the goal toward which they turn.
In this edition“Conversion” means turning toward a source or end here, not necessarily religious conversion.
A place to readMind is directed to refer to God what it receives from God.

Meaning

Profectio names going forth or derivation; conversio a turning toward. Implicare enfolds, explicare unfolds, effundere pours forth, refluere flows back, reformare re-forms, and restituere restores. Their causal use need not imply bodily displacement.

Use in the book

Ficino links the source of beings with the goal toward which they turn. The Proem says that mind receives everything from God and should direct everything back to God. At the close of Book I, a more general argument states that the procession of things comes from the point toward which their conversion is directed. Because all things desire the good, while not all desire mind, Ficino infers that the Good is their first cause. “Conversion” here is a turning toward a source or end, not specifically a change of religious affiliation. “Procession” names causal derivation rather than a march through physical space. The closing father-and-homeland comparison gives these relations a personal image: all things originate from the Good as from a father and aspire to it as to their homeland. The unity of origin and end is an asserted principle in the argument, not something established simply by the ordinary definitions of the words.

II.3.10 develops the relation through unity, truth, and goodness. God enfolds all things in unity, unfolds them in truth, and pours them forth through goodness. Things return through goodness, are re-formed through truth, and are restored into one through unity. The sequence differentiates ways of explaining the one source and its effects, rather than separating three gods or describing material streams. The imagery of flowing therefore belongs to a structured account of causality and perfection; it does not by itself establish involuntary production or a temporal succession within God.

Further passage references. Proem.1; I.6.16, I.6.19; II.3.10

Places to read

Proem.1Mind is directed to refer to God what it receives from God.
I.6.16The source of procession is linked with the goal of conversion.
I.6.19Father and homeland give origin and return a personal image.
II.3.10Enfolding, unfolding, outpouring, and return distinguish roles within one divine source.

Translation in this edition

“Conversion” means turning toward a source or end here, not necessarily religious conversion. The prefix contrasts in implicat/explicat and fluxerunt/refluunt structure II.3.10. Their sequence is explanatory and does not by itself establish successive events or involuntary production within God.

conversio / profectio

conversio / profectio. Printed forms: conversio; convertuntur; procedunt; profectio.

Turning toward and proceeding from a source. Ficino correlates the universal desire for the Good with universal origin from it, distinguishing the Good’s range from mind’s. References: I.6.16. See Procession and return.

convertere / reverti / converso

convertere / reverti / converso. Printed forms: converso; converterentur; revertamur.

Conversely, turning toward, or returning, with logical and directional senses distinguished. Converso reverses a statement; revertamur closes the mental-presence excursus and returns the exposition to God. References: II.6.13, II.6.24, II.7.16. See Procession and return.

exordiri / prodire

exordiri / prodire. Printed forms: exordiatur; prodiret; Prodit; prodit.

To begin from a source or come forth into being. A first source gives outflow an origin; mind’s coming forth as word remains part of the attributed theory. References: II.3.3, II.3.7, II.6.20, II.7.21. See Procession and return.

proficisci

proficisci. Printed forms: proficiscitur; proficiscuntur.

To proceed or arise from a source. All things proceed from supreme truth; deliberative operation proceeds from counsel and is distinguished from essential operation. References: II.7.3, II.8.5. See Procession and return.

reformare / restituere

reformare / restituere. Printed forms: reformantur; restitutio; restituuntur.

To form anew and restore to an origin or order. Returning effects are re-formed through truth and restored into one through unity. References: II.3.8, II.3.10. See Procession and return.

repetere / revocare

repetere / revocare. Printed forms: repetunt; revocando.

To seek again or return to; to call back toward a source. Desire repeats the movement toward origin, while goodness recalls produced things and perfects them. References: II.1.2, II.3.10, II.7.4. See Procession and return.

replicare / explicare

replicare / explicare. Printed forms: explicat; replicat.

Fold inward or back / unfold outward. Seeing gathers forms inward; willing unfolds them outward. Soul later refolds its powers upward after unfolding them downward. References: II.11.30, III.2.27, III.2.28. See Procession and return.