From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordSigillum is a seal, cera wax and figura the impressed shape.
- In the Platonic TheologyV.11.6 answers the suggestion that the soul might be resolved into the power of its divine author.
- In this editionThe argument uses terminus in two directions: the end toward which corruption would move and the efficient source from which production proceeds.
- A place to readReturn to primal life is distinguished from loss of mind; the seal restores determinate form.
Meaning
Sigillum is a seal, cera wax and figura the impressed shape. Imprimere makes an impression. Adaequare brings into conformity, redintegrare restores wholeness, and confirmare or roborare makes firm or strengthens.
Use in the book
V.11.6 answers the suggestion that the soul might be resolved into the power of its divine author. The impression in wax is not erased when brought fully into agreement with the seal; it is restored to its own form. Likewise, the soul’s approach to the Idea through which God appointed its mode of being confirms rather than abolishes that being.
The comparison therefore opposes assimilation to annihilation. An exemplar perfects the derivative thing as the thing it is. It does not swallow the derivative into an undifferentiated source. The first act strengthens the subsequent act, and God as the efficient origin of production cannot simply be redescribed as the material terminus of corruption.
Ficino then exposes the illicit material model: if soul arose from divine potency plus an added act, it might be thought to dissolve back into God as into matter. But God is pure act and never occupies matter’s role. The seal analogy is not permission to treat God as a physical stamp or soul as literal wax; its useful feature is determinate correspondence that restores identity.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The argument uses terminus in two directions: the end toward which corruption would move and the efficient source from which production proceeds. The edition differentiates these rather than translating both as a spatial stopping point.
adaequare
adaequare. Printed forms: adaequatur.
To make equal or bring into complete conformity. The impressed figure's full conformity to its seal restores the original shape rather than destroys it. References: V.11.6. See Seal, wax and restoration.
cera
cera. Printed forms: cera; cerae.
Wax as the recipient of a seal's figure. Its comparison is limited to restoration through conformity; the soul is not thereby said to be bodily wax. References: V.11.6. See Seal, wax and restoration.
Wax, capable of receiving a seal’s impressed figure. Its bounded surface and altered impressions make bodily reception concrete under the corporeal-soul hypothesis. References: VII.1.1. See Receiving images: wax, seals and mirrors.
imprimere
imprimere. Printed forms: impressa; impressam; imprimentem; imprimit.
To impress or stamp a form upon a recipient. Craft impresses matter, a seal stamps wax, and the soul is said to impress life upon a vehicle; dependence differs with the recipient. References: V.4.1, V.11.6, V.13.18. See Seal, wax and restoration.
redintegrare / confirmare / roborare
redintegrare / confirmare / roborare. Printed forms: confirmatur; redintegratur; roboratur.
To restore wholeness, confirm and strengthen. The sequence makes return to an exemplar a perfection of the derivative act, not absorption into an undifferentiated source. References: V.11.6. See Seal, wax and restoration.
sigillum
sigillum. Printed forms: sigillo.
A seal supplying an impressed model. Returning an impression toward complete conformity with its seal restores it, illustrating the soul's confirmation by its Idea. References: V.11.6. See Seal, wax and restoration.
A seal or stamping device. The seal’s image cannot be impressed in wax as a figure exceeding its receiver’s size. References: VII.1.1. See Receiving images: wax, seals and mirrors.
terminus
terminus. Printed forms: terminis; termino; terminos; terminus.
An endpoint, boundary or originating term, according to the direction specified. God is denied as corruption's endpoint and affirmed as production's efficient source; temporal bounds separately limit embodied instances. References: V.1.5, V.7.1, V.11.6. See Seal, wax and restoration.