Rennet, magnet and clock · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordCoagulum is rennet or a curdling agent; its effect is coagulation of milk.
In the Platonic TheologyAt the close of VI.9 the soul’s power in body is compared with three agents or arrangements.
In this editionThe translation differentiates temperatio artis, ordering skill, from temperatiove humorum, tempering of humours.
A place to readThe three analogies are followed immediately by the distinction between substantial soul and its tempering power.

Meaning

Coagulum is rennet or a curdling agent; its effect is coagulation of milk. Magnes draws and suspends iron. Horologium is a clock. Temperatio artis is the ordering or proportioning skill embodied in an artifact, distinct from the physiological temperament of humours.

Use in the book

At the close of VI.9 the soul’s power in body is compared with three agents or arrangements. Rennet gathers milk into curd; a magnet draws and suspends iron; ordering skill governs a clock’s movement and sound. The comparisons distinguish binding, directed motion and coordinated operation. They do not assert that soul is a physical rennet, a magnetic stone or a mechanism.

Ficino immediately adds a restriction crucial to reading the examples. Soul itself is not a power or tempering of the humours; it is a simple indivisible substantial form that tempers spirits, humours and members by its natural power and art. The shift from “soul, or rather soul’s power” prevents confusing the acting substance with its operative effect. The clock image, moreover, does not reduce life to clockwork: art supplies the explanatory order for the artifact, just as natural art supplies coordinated operations in the living body. The humours and spirits belong to the passage’s historical physiology.

Places to read

VI.9.4The three analogies are followed immediately by the distinction between substantial soul and its tempering power.

Translation in this edition

The translation differentiates temperatio artis, ordering skill, from temperatiove humorum, tempering of humours. The final verb temperat makes the causal direction explicit: the soul regulates these bodily constituents rather than being identical with their regulation.

coagulum; lac; coagulare

coagulum; lac; coagulare. Printed forms: coagulatur; coaguli; lacte.

Rennet, milk and curdling. The first analogy concerns the soul’s binding power, not identity between soul and a physical curdling agent. References: VI.9.4. See Rennet, magnet and clock.

horologium; sonare

horologium; sonare. Printed forms: horologio; sonat.

Clock and sounding. The third analogy exhibits coordinated motion and sound through art’s ordering proportion. References: VI.9.4. See Rennet, magnet and clock.

humor; membrum; spiritus

humor; membrum; spiritus. Printed forms: humor; humores; humoribus; humorum; membris; membrorum; spiritus; spirituum.

Humours, bodily members and physiological spirits in the natural account. Soul’s governing power regulates these instruments; the spiritual reality called spiritus in the light exercise must not be mechanically equated with physiological spirits. References: VI.2.2, VI.2.26, VI.9.2, VI.9.4, VI.11.2, VI.13.8. See Rennet, magnet and clock.

magnes / ferrum / trahere / suspendere

magnes / ferrum / trahere / suspendere. Printed forms: ferro; magnetis; trahitur et suspenditur.

Magnes is a magnet and ferrum iron; trahere means to draw and suspendere to suspend. In trahitur et suspenditur, the iron is drawn and suspended. The second analogy concerns effective directed action, distinct from the rennet’s consolidation. References: VI.9.4. See Rennet, magnet and clock.

temperare spiritus et humores

temperare spiritus et humores. Printed forms: spiritus, humores membraque temperat.

To regulate spirits, humours and members. Soul as substantial form performs the regulation through power and natural art; it is not identical with bodily temperament. References: VI.9.4. See Rennet, magnet and clock.

temperatio artis

temperatio artis. Printed forms: temperatio artis.

The ordering skill or proportioning of an art. A clock’s orderly work illustrates the relation of a coordinating source to its effects. References: VI.9.4. See Rennet, magnet and clock.