From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordAequalitas can mean equality, evenness or proportionate order; consonantia is concord or harmony.
- In the Platonic TheologyFicino attributes to the Magi the description of virtue as an equality through which the soul accords with itself, truth and goodness.
- In this editionThe English keeps “the true and the good” as substantive principles.
- A place to readThe Magian attribution introduces the line and lyre as models of spiritual perfection.
Meaning
Aequalitas can mean equality, evenness or proportionate order; consonantia is concord or harmony. Temperare a lyre means bringing it into tune. These are models of improved arrangement without increased size.
Use in the book
Ficino attributes to the Magi the description of virtue as an equality through which the soul accords with itself, truth and goodness. He first imagines a four-angled line becoming circular. The imagined improvement concerns evenness, not extra length. He then imagines a lyre being tuned: it becomes more harmonious without becoming bigger.
The examples answer the habit of describing intellectual or moral advancement as if it were bodily enlargement. A young person can “grow” in virtue while the soul acquires spiritual order rather than quantity. The point is not that every circular object is ethically superior to every angular one, but that one and the same measured extent can be differently ordered. Similarly, the instrument's sound illustrates the difference between more bulk and better proportion.
This use of equality prepares a later argument in which mind judges varying equalities by reference to equality itself. The two uses are related but not identical: the lyre explains nonquantitative improvement, while the later passage asks how a knower can measure greatest and least without becoming their size.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The English keeps “the true and the good” as substantive principles. Adolescens and adolescit create an age-and-maturation play; the explanatory conclusion is explicitly that soul does not grow quantitate.
aequalitas / consonantia
aequalitas / consonantia. Printed forms: aequalior; aequalitas; aequalitate; aequalitatem; aequalitati; aequalitatis; consonantia; consonantior; consonat.
Evenness, proportional agreement and harmony. The Magian account links the soul's self-agreement to truth and goodness, illustrated by circularity and tuning. Later, equality itself is a standard used by mind when judging different participants, not an enlarged bodily measure. References: VIII.2.4, VIII.6.1. See Spiritual equality, the line, and the tuned lyre.
lyra / temperare
lyra / temperare. Printed forms: lyra; temperetur.
Lyre and its tuning into better proportion. An improved instrument need not be larger; greater concord illustrates the soul's advancement in virtue. References: VIII.2.4. See Spiritual equality, the line, and the tuned lyre.
Magi
Magi. Printed forms: Magi.
The authorities to whom the account of virtue as equality is attributed. Their claim is reported by Ficino and applied through the line-and-lyre comparisons, not independently verified here. References: VIII.2.4. See Spiritual equality, the line, and the tuned lyre.
quadrangularis / circularis
quadrangularis / circularis. Printed forms: circularis; linea; quadrangularis.
Four-angled and circular, applied to a hypothetical line whose order changes. The comparison concerns increased evenness without greater length, illustrating nonquantitative perfection. References: VIII.2.4. See Spiritual equality, the line, and the tuned lyre.