From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAlimenta are nourishment or food; providere supplies or makes provision as well as foreseeing.
- In the Platonic TheologyThe providence argument connects an organism’s internal arrangement with its external conditions.
- In this edition“Provided for” preserves the concrete sense of provisa and provisurus.
- A place to readOrgans, nourishment, places, and times form one provisioned order.
Meaning
Alimenta are nourishment or food; providere supplies or makes provision as well as foreseeing. Instrumenta are equipment or organs serving a function. Tempora here are fitting times or seasons, not an abstract definition of time.
Use in the book
The providence argument connects an organism’s internal arrangement with its external conditions. Its members serve one another and the composite whole; suitable instruments enable its natural work. Food, places, and times are provided, earth and water prepare nourishment, and heaven tempers earth and water. The following counterfactual imagines missing organs, wrong offspring, and mismatched limbs if no superior counsel ordered things. Seed, figure, season, and end together describe a regular production, rather than furnishing a separate biological classification. Ficino’s claims about the completeness of organic provision and the role of heaven belong to his defense of cosmic order. They should not be treated as a contemporary medical or ecological assurance that every living thing always receives what it needs.
Selected annotated passages.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Provided for” preserves the concrete sense of provisa and provisurus. Its connection with providentia should remain audible, but translating every such occurrence as “foreknown” would erase the supply of food and equipment.
alimentum / providere
alimentum / providere. Printed forms: alimenta; providisses; provisa; provisurus.
Nourishment / make provision. Food, places, and seasons are part of providence’s concrete supply; foresight alone does not capture this use. References: II.13.16, II.13.17. See Providential provision.
instruere / instrumentum
instruere / instrumentum. Printed forms: instructum; instrumentis.
Equip / equipment or functional instrument. The plant or animal is equipped for its characteristic works; instrumenta can include bodily organs rather than separate tools. References: II.13.16. See Providential provision.
temperare
temperare. Printed forms: temperans; temperas; temperat.
Moderate or bring into a fitting condition. Heaven is said to temper earth and water in the historical account of provisioning living things. References: II.13.16. See Providential provision.
To order or regulate by fitting adjustment; to tune. Nature orders matter inwardly, while Apollo tunes heaven through the musical comparison. References: IV.1.11, IV.1.52. See Art and nature.