Self-production and reservation · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordAgere ranges from acting to producing; gignere means begetting; producere bringing forth.
In the Platonic TheologyFicino tentatively connects the followers of Zoroaster’s statement that God in some manner makes himself with the identity of divine being, understanding, and willing.
In this editionThe English preserves “in some manner” and “roughly.”
A place to readForsitan and quodammodo qualify the attribution to Zoroaster’s followers.

Meaning

Agere ranges from acting to producing; gignere means begetting; producere bringing forth. Ponere and signare in esse evoke positing or sealing in being. Pervigil is ever-watchful; nixus is effort or directed striving. The text actively interprets one verb through another.

Use in the book

Ficino tentatively connects the followers of Zoroaster’s statement that God in some manner makes himself with the identity of divine being, understanding, and willing. He then reports how Plotinus explained such language: the divine act remains within itself, is infinitely fruitful, and directs its entire striving toward itself. The successive glosses “acts,” “begets,” “produces,” and “posits or seals” work to distinguish self-grounded actuality from production of an external effect. The conclusion is explicitly what Plotinus wishes to establish. Ficino immediately reserves judgment to God and asks to affirm only what is worthy of God. His next paragraph returns to the narrower proposition that supreme freedom and necessity coincide. Suppressing that reservation would convert an attributed exposition into an unqualified doctrine of a God who first does not exist and then creates himself.

Selected annotated passages.

Places to read

II.12.8Forsitan and quodammodo qualify the attribution to Zoroaster’s followers.
II.12.9Plotinus is introduced as the expositor.
II.12.10Fruitful inward activity is distinguished from an external product.
II.12.11Ficino marks Plotinus’s conclusion and explicitly reserves judgment.

Translation in this edition

The English preserves “in some manner” and “roughly.” Acto in II.12.10 denotes what is acted or produced and is immediately glossed genito; it should not be silently treated as another occurrence of the abstract noun actus. “Let God himself judge” renders the reservation, not an endorsement.

actus / actum (product)

actus / actum (product). Printed forms: acto; actum; actus.

Activity / what is acted or produced. The reported argument distinguishes divine act from its inward product, immediately glossed as begotten. References: II.12.9, II.12.10. See Self-production and reservation.

fecundus

fecundus. Printed forms: fecundus.

Fruitful or productive. Infinite goodness is said to make inward activity infinitely fruitful; the account is presented as Plotinus’s exposition. References: II.12.10. See Self-production and reservation.

gignere / producere

gignere / producere. Printed forms: genito; genitum; gignit; producit.

Beget / bring forth. The verbs gloss divine self-activity in a reserved, attributed exposition, not a temporal emergence of God from nonbeing. References: II.12.10, II.12.11. See Self-production and reservation.

nixus / inniti

nixus / inniti. Printed forms: innititur; nixus.

Striving or directed exertion / rest or lean upon. Divine activity’s entire orientation is toward itself; the metaphor must remain within the attributed account. References: II.12.10, II.12.11. See Self-production and reservation.

pervigil / vigilare

pervigil / vigilare. Printed forms: pervigil; vigilat.

Ever-watchful / keep watch or be awake. Watchful activity expresses abiding self-directed actuality in the reported divine argument; the adjective later characterizes soul’s active sourcehood. References: II.12.10, III.1.26. See Self-production and reservation.

Plotinus

Plotinus. Printed forms: Plotini; Plotinus.

Plotinus as reported authority or named manner of speaking. One passage reports radically passive matter and quality; another uses Plotinian idiom for divine intellection without an external subject or object. The two contexts should remain distinct. References: I.3.19, I.6.12. See Intellect and intellection.

Plotinus as the reported expositor. Ficino recounts an explanation of inward divine activity and later identifies the conclusion as what Plotinus wishes to establish. References: II.12.9, II.12.11. See Self-production and reservation.

ponere / signare in esse

ponere / signare in esse. Printed forms: ponit; signat in esse.

Posit or seal in being. These are the exposition’s final reformulations of self-production before Ficino reserves judgment. References: II.12.11. See Self-production and reservation.

Zoroastris sectatores

Zoroastris sectatores. Printed forms: Zoroastris sectatores.

Followers of Zoroaster. The self-production saying is attributed to this group before Plotinus’s exposition is reported; the groups and authorial voices remain distinct. References: II.12.8. See Self-production and reservation.