Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordVis seminaria is the generative power conveyed in seed; it is called soul’s instrument.
In the Platonic TheologyVI.10 argues from a whole formative power present in a small reproductive portion.
In this editionThe chapter is a single comparison unit and source paragraph.
A place to readFish eggs, plant seeds and the growing or pruned tree argue for power without quantitative size.

Meaning

Vis seminaria is the generative power conveyed in seed; it is called soul’s instrument. Pullulare means springing or sprouting forth, delitescere lying hidden. Radix is root, germen a shoot or germ. Expansion and contraction describe the extension of life’s effects, not measurement of a soul-body.

Use in the book

VI.10 argues from a whole formative power present in a small reproductive portion. Ficino claims that however many portions seed is divided into, so many animals arise, appealing especially to fish eggs. If an entire animal emerges from a drop, the complete seminal power must be there. Because this is an instrument serving generation, the whole soul is said to be present still more fully. A plant seed similarly contains the power to produce the entire plant.

The tree supplies a temporal version of the size contrast. Vegetative soul is first received in a tiny root or shoot, extends through all branches as the tree grows, and contracts back to the root when branches dry or are cut. Plotinus and Porphyry are named as holding such soul free of quantity because it fits the smallest and fills the greatest equally. The reproductive premise is historical natural philosophy and should not be offered as a verified rule about arbitrarily dividing gametes or embryos. The argumentative distinction between bodily seed, seminal instrument and soul must remain visible even where the inference passes rapidly from one to another.

Places to read

VI.10.1Fish eggs, plant seeds and the growing or pruned tree argue for power without quantitative size.
VI.12.17Successive seminal emergence later explains the soul’s temporal productive activity.

Translation in this edition

The chapter is a single comparison unit and source paragraph. “Whole in each” concerns the completeness of formative power rather than a detached miniature organism. The proper names record Ficino’s attribution without claiming an independent collation of Plotinus or Porphyry.

contrahere; fundere

contrahere; fundere. Printed forms: se fundit; sese contrahit.

To contract back and diffuse outward. These describe soul’s relation to root and branches, not proportional increase and decrease in its own bodily size. References: VI.10.1. See Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree.

guttula; ova piscium

guttula; ova piscium. Printed forms: guttula seminis; piscium ovis.

A drop of seed and fish eggs. These are Ficino’s reproductive examples; the text’s general claim about division is historical natural philosophy, not a verified embryological rule. References: VI.10.1. See Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree.

instrumentum; subservire

instrumentum; subservire. Printed forms: instrumentum generationi subserviens.

An instrument serving generation. Seminal power is distinguished from soul before the argument infers that soul is whole in each still more fully. References: VI.10.1. See Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree.

Plotinus; Porphyrius

Plotinus; Porphyrius. Printed forms: Plotinus Porphyriusque.

The authorities named for vegetative soul’s freedom from quantity. Ficino attributes their conclusion to the same soul filling the smallest and largest; no independent textual collation is claimed. References: VI.10.1. See Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree.

pullulare; delitescere

pullulare; delitescere. Printed forms: delitescit; pullulat.

To spring forth and lie hidden. The whole animal’s emergence is taken to show that complete seminal power was present in the small source. References: VI.10.1. See Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree.

radix; germen; ramus

radix; germen; ramus. Printed forms: germine; radice; ramis; ramos.

Root, shoot and branches. The growing and pruned tree contrasts the small receiving site with the wide reach of vegetative soul’s effects. References: VI.10.1. See Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree.

vis seminaria

vis seminaria. Printed forms: seminaria virtus; Vis seminaria.

The complete formative power within seed. Its supposed presence in each productive portion is used to argue for a power undivided by bodily quantity. References: VI.10.1. See Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree.

Plotinus (authorities and interlocutors)

Plotinus. The volume reports angelic production, lower-soul immortality and descent in passages where Ficino’s own endorsement varies. Other passages use Plotinus on vegetative power, active perception or a tentative analysis of being. Attribution and assent are not interchangeable. References: V.13.1, V.14.8, V.14.9, VI.10.1, VII.6.3, VIII.4.12. See Divine production and the third essence; Platonist disagreement and descent; Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree; Sensation as attentive activity; Analysis, mangling, and fictive construction.

Porphyry (authorities and interlocutors)

Porphyry. Porphyry is placed against the immortality of irrational life, alongside Proclus, in one reported dispute. His use with Plotinus concerning vegetative power’s independence from bodily quantity does not by itself contradict that position: the properties being tested differ. References: V.14.8, VI.10.1. See Platonist disagreement and descent; Seminal power, fish eggs and the tree.