Purity and mixture · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordPurus and puritas describe absence of an alien admixture.
In the Platonic TheologyPurity has distinct metaphysical and bodily applications.
In this edition“Temperament” or balanced constitution at IV.1.63 renders temperatio, not modern measured temperature.
A place to readPure wine and pure perfections connect unity with unmixed possession.

Meaning

Purus and puritas describe absence of an alien admixture. Miscere, commiscere, and mixtio concern mixing; inquinare and contagio mark taint. Temperatio and complexio can instead describe a well-proportioned bodily constitution. Mixture is not evaluatively identical in these uses.

The local vocabulary includes complexio, temperatio, temperantia, intemperantia, aequalitas, contemperat, and segregatae. Constitution, tempering, balanced condition, imbalance, equality, coordinated mixture, and separation name successive aspects of receptivity.

Use in the book

Purity has distinct metaphysical and bodily applications. In the arguments about God, it means possessing a nature without an alien addition that would restrict it. True wine as pure wine introduces the connection among unity, truth, and goodness. The pattern extends to supreme light, heat, goodness, and necessary being. If two supreme lights differed, their differentiating addition would make their light impure and less than supreme. An angel cannot possess pure necessity in the same unrestricted sense as God when an added property distinguishes it from God. These uses of mixture concern dependence and limitation rather than literal ingredients alone. Divine purity excludes passive potency, causal dependence, and composition.

Bodily purity and tempering concern fitness to receive life and knowledge. Here a well-balanced mixture can be beneficial: earthly mixed bodies become more capable of life as they approach the equilibrium and freedom from grossness attributed to heavenly bodies. Detached elemental parts can lose purity through disturbance; enduring, carefully balanced mixtures can regain an equality associated in this account with extraordinary operations, vegetable life, sensation, and reason. This is Ficino's historical account of bodily receptivity, not a modern theory of biological development.

The difference matters because mixture is not simply condemned wherever the word occurs. An addition would contradict God's supreme simplicity, whereas proportion among a body's qualities can make that body a better instrument of higher powers. Temperatio at IV.1.63 denotes a balanced constitution, not temperature, and complexio denotes constitution rather than outward appearance alone. “Pure,” “gross,” and “tempered” locate bodies within this explanatory hierarchy; they are not judgments of an individual person's moral worth.

At IV.1.73 temperantia describes the balance of heavenly bodies in contrast with elemental imbalance, not a separately attributed moral virtue. IV.1.89–932 3 4 5 then distinguishes complete elemental spheres from their separated particles. Whole spheres retain their cosmic place and relation to higher causes; scattered parts lose that dignity and purity under external impacts. Careful mixture can restore a balance like the spheres' balance and thereby prepare successively for extraordinary operations, vegetal life, sensation, and reason. Ficino's hierarchy concerns degrees and modes of preparedness, not the claim that simple physical purity automatically equals intelligence.

Further passage references. II.1.1–42 3 4; II.2.5–112 3 4 5 6 7; II.4.1; II.7.12–142 3; IV.1.36–IV.1.392 3 4; IV.1.63; IV.1.72–IV.1.732; IV.1.79; IV.1.92–IV.1.932; apparatus

IV.1.73: balance is linked with capacity for life and knowledge IV.1.79: an organism's constitution helps distinguish its proper soul from that of a sphere IV.1.89–932 3 4 5: whole elements, separated particles, and rebalanced mixtures have different causal standing

Places to read

II.1.1–42 3 4Pure wine and pure perfections connect unity with unmixed possession.
II.7.12–142 3Angelic being is distinguished from unrestricted pure necessity.
IV.1.36–392 3 4Balanced bodily constitution is linked with receptivity to life.
IV.1.63Temperatio is debated through the mechanism and animal-motion analogy.
IV.1.92–932The concluding physical classifications retain their historical and theological qualifications.

Translation in this edition

“Temperament” or balanced constitution at IV.1.63 renders temperatio, not modern measured temperature. Complexio concerns constitution rather than complexion alone. Red or green light in III.1.10 illustrates qualified actuality; impurity there means addition, not moral guilt.

“Balance” correctly prevents temperantia from being read only as ethical temperance here. Animos non merentur at IV.1.93 belongs to the historical claim about unsuitable recipients; “do not merit souls” is a metaphor of fitness, not moral blame assigned to particles.

additamentum / permixtio

additamentum / permixtio. Printed forms: additamentum; permixtione.

Addition / admixture. Any addition distinguishing a second supposed pure act would qualify it, preventing its being pure act in the same sense. References: III.1.10. See Purity and mixture.

admixtio / inquinatio

admixtio / inquinatio. Printed forms: admixtionem; inquinationem.

Admixture / taint or contamination. Quality becomes divisible through bodily admixture; soul is denied such division even through involvement with body. References: III.1.3. See Purity and mixture.

calor / frigus

calor / frigus. Printed forms: calor; caloris; frigiditatem; frigori; frigoris.

Heat and cold as active qualitative differences. They supply examples of efficacy strengthened by concentration; elsewhere cooling and heating distinguish specific actions of different forms. References: I.2.2, I.2.11. See Quality.

Heat and cold, opposed qualities in an example of purity. Supreme heat is imagined free of admixture that would hinder its intensity. References: II.2.6. See Purity and mixture.

commiscere / mixtio

commiscere / mixtio. Printed forms: commiscetur; commixtione; immixtam; miscetur; mixta; mixtionem.

Mingling or admixture, and the resulting mixed condition. An added differentiating feature would compromise the purity needed for supreme light or necessary being. References: II.1.1, II.1.4, II.2.6, II.7.13. See Purity and mixture.

complexio / instrumenta

complexio / instrumenta. Printed forms: complexio; instrumentis.

Bodily constitution; organs or functional instruments. Differences of shape, organs, and constitution help establish proper souls for distinct animals. References: IV.1.79. See Purity and mixture.

impedire / purgare

impedire / purgare. Printed forms: impeditur; purgetur.

To hinder, and to cleanse or remove an impediment. Mixed heat could become stronger if purified, so the mixed state cannot count as unqualified supreme heat. References: II.2.6. See Purity and mixture.

inquinare / contagio

inquinare / contagio. Printed forms: contagione; inquinata; inquinatae.

Polluting or contaminating addition. The language makes an alien differentiating nature incompatible with unqualified goodness or supreme light. References: II.1.4, II.2.6, II.2.11. See Purity and mixture.

integritas / segregare

integritas / segregare. Printed forms: integritate; segregantur; segregatae.

Wholeness; separation from a complete sphere. A whole element's cosmic standing differs from that of its detached, mixed, and externally affected particles. References: IV.1.91, IV.1.93. See Purity and mixture.

mereri / aequalitatem recuperare

mereri / aequalitatem recuperare. Printed forms: aequalitatem; merentur; recuperent.

To merit or be fitted for; recover balanced condition. Separated particles lose receptivity, while careful mixture can recover a balance preparing for life, sense, and reason. References: IV.1.93. See Purity and mixture.

merus / incorruptus / revera

merus / incorruptus / revera. Printed forms: incorrupta; merae; revera; veraque; verumque.

Unmixed, uncorrupted, or genuinely real in different constructions. A true thing genuinely is what it is said to be; an artwork’s uncorrupted endurance still depends on material solidity. References: II.1.1, II.2.4, II.7.3, II.7.17. See Purity and mixture.

opacus

opacus. Printed forms: opaca.

Dim or darkened. An alien addition would dim a supposed supreme light and destroy the purity required for its supremacy. References: II.2.6. See Purity and mixture.

purgo / serenus

purgo / serenus. Printed forms: purgandum; purgatam; serenior.

To purify; clearer or more serene after purification. Soul and mental gaze are prepared for divine light; the optical-moral comparison concerns receptive orientation rather than physical washing. References: Proem.2, I.1.6. See Purity and mixture.

purus / merus

purus / merus. Printed forms: merus; pura; puri; purus.

Pure / unmixed or considered alone. A colored light is no longer pure light in the example; merus actus excludes added receptive determination. References: III.1.10. See Purity and mixture.

purus / puritas

purus / puritas. Printed forms: pura; puritati; purum.

Pure, unmixed with alien limitation; purity rather than merely physical cleanliness. Divine power’s purity excludes limiting reception, while the wine example begins from an ordinary material comparison. References: II.1.1, II.4.1, II.6.3. See Purity and mixture.

temperantia / intemperantia

temperantia / intemperantia. Printed forms: intemperantia; temperantiam.

Balanced and imbalanced bodily condition. The contrast concerns fitness for life and cognition, not primarily ethical self-restraint. References: IV.1.73. See Purity and mixture.

Archimedes (authorities and cited works)

Archimedes. His revolving bronze spheres enter a hypothetical comparison about the temperament that moves heaven. Ficino uses it to press the question of an inward living and rational cause. IV.1.63. See Purity and mixture; Motion and stability.