From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSerere sows; parere brings forth; tela is a woven fabric or web; retexere can weave again.
- In the Platonic TheologyThe lower celestial power cannot act upon all its seeds at once.
- In this edition“Weave again” preserves the recurrent force of retexere.
- A place to readpossession of seeds, successive actualization, Proteus, the rewoven fabric, and the reported cosmic recurrence
Meaning
Serere sows; parere brings forth; tela is a woven fabric or web; retexere can weave again. Explicare unfolds or makes explicit, while promere brings out. These productive images describe successive realization of principles already held in another manner.
Use in the book
The lower celestial power cannot act upon all its seeds at once. It continually strives toward them, realizing one and then another. The resulting course supplies first motion and first time. Ficino identifies the changing Proteus with this process as his interpretation. Because the stock of seeds is finite, the course must eventually either rest or pass through them anew; the latter option becomes weaving the same fabric of generation again. The return of causes and effects and its use in an argument about bodily resurrection are then attributed to Zoroaster and successors.
The later expression “sows in heaven, brings forth in the elements” marks differentiated levels of manifestation. A celestial configuration is not already the same thing as its generated elemental product. Nor does weaving prove the asserted cosmic period: the thirty-six-thousand-year figure is separately reported as Platonic. The metaphors clarify succession and causal articulation without independently establishing the historical cosmology.
Places to read
- IV.2.10–1223possession of seeds, successive actualization, Proteus, the rewoven fabric, and the reported cosmic recurrence
- IV.2.15–162one seed-kind is brought forth for attention, unfolded in heaven, and generated in the elements
- IV.2.20matter seeks through succession perfections it cannot hold together at rest
Translation in this edition
“Weave again” preserves the recurrent force of retexere. The source's alternative “either... or” and Ficino's “I believe” should remain visible, as should the attribution of recurrence and its numerical span.
retexere telam
retexere telam. Printed forms: telam generationis retexere.
To weave again the fabric of generation. The reported recurrence of a finite stock of causes is presented through a weaving image, with rest retained as the alternative. References: IV.2.12. See Sowing and weaving.
serere / parere / explicare
serere / parere / explicare. Printed forms: explicat; parit; serit.
To sow, bring forth, and unfold. The passage distinguishes celestial configuration from elemental production while coordinating both under one seed's realization. References: IV.2.15. See Sowing and weaving.