From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordStatus is standing, settled state or repose; alteratio is the change by which a bodily form is introduced into matter.
- In the Platonic TheologyBodies acquire new forms through change.
- In this editionThe edition indexes this as chapter VIII.11 because the rubric calls it the eleventh argument and it stands between VIII.10 and VIII.12, although the reported early chapter label erroneously says ten.
- A place to readBodily acquisition through alteration is contrasted with contemplative perfection through repose.
Meaning
Status is standing, settled state or repose; alteratio is the change by which a bodily form is introduced into matter. Speculatio is contemplative inquiry or vision. Physical motion and figurative intellectual movement are not automatically the same process.
Use in the book
Bodies acquire new forms through change. Mind, Ficino argues, is perfected by freedom from the agitations of passions and affairs: the greater its repose, the better its contemplation of truth. This contrast supports a claim about the stable source of its being. What is perfected by standing still is said to depend on stability rather than on a process of bodily generation.
The brevity of VIII.11 should not hide its inferential step. Psychological quiet and metaphysical permanence are linked through the premise that a thing's natural perfection reveals the character of its source. This is a philosophical account, not an empirical claim that learning involves no bodily processes or that a person never needs rest.
Later, the mind is called reflection and intellectual activity is described as circular motion. Those passages do not simply retract this chapter. Their “movement” is inward operation and return, whereas VIII.11 denies bodily alteration as the mode by which understanding receives its forms. The local sense of motus changes with the comparison.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The edition indexes this as chapter VIII.11 because the rubric calls it the eleventh argument and it stands between VIII.10 and VIII.12, although the reported early chapter label erroneously says ten. The correction is editorial numbering, not an additional chapter.
considerare / contemplari / speculari / inspicere
considerare / contemplari / speculari / inspicere. Printed forms: aspicitur; considerando; considerat; contemplatur; inspiciet; inspicit; prospicit; respicit; spectat; speculando; speculatio; speculatur.
Considering, contemplating and intellectual inspection. The verbs name different descriptions of mind's attention, which can take bodies, common natures, its own acts or divine things as objects. References: VIII.1.2, VIII.1.5, VIII.2.5, VIII.2.7, VIII.3.1, VIII.3.2, VIII.3.7, VIII.4.2, VIII.4.3, VIII.4.5, VIII.4.9, VIII.5.2, VIII.11.1, VIII.14.1, VIII.15.1. See Repose, motion, and contemplation.
motus / alteratio / quies
motus / alteratio / quies. Printed forms: alterationem; motionem; motionum; motu; motum; movetur; quietem; stando; statu; statum.
Motion, alteration, repose and standing still as contrasting modes of perfection. The bodily acquisition of form occurs through change; mind is said to contemplate better when freed from agitation and distracting affairs. References: VIII.1.3, VIII.2.5, VIII.7.1, VIII.10.2, VIII.11.1, VIII.13.2, VIII.15.1, VIII.15.3. See Repose, motion, and contemplation.
perturbatio / negotium
perturbatio / negotium. Printed forms: negotiorum; perturbationum.
Agitations and practical affairs that disturb contemplative attention. Their absence helps mental activity, and Ficino moves from this natural perfection to a claim about the stability of mind's substance. References: VIII.11.1. See Repose, motion, and contemplation.