From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe local glosses distinguish harmony, fitting arrangement and concord.
- In the Platonic TheologyEvery composite body has some agreement of its parts.
- In this editionThe edition deliberately renders harmonia, consonantia and concinnitas differently.
- A place to readThe earlier physiological spirit provides a comparison that must retain its separate context.
Meaning
The local glosses distinguish harmony, fitting arrangement and concord. Contemperare is tempering constituents together in a definite manner. A temperatrix is the power that tempers; it is not the tempered concord itself.
Use in the book
Every composite body has some agreement of its parts. If harmony as such were soul, every composite would live. The defender therefore narrows the claim to a harmony tempered in a proper, definite manner. Ficino replies that the qualification has introduced something not contained in the bare account of concord: otherwise all concord would already have that vital character.
The required determination comes from another principle. Ficino explicitly asks about an external source and answers affirmatively, but immediately adds that an external source alone is insufficient. Constant and natural tempering requires a superior power at work inwardly among the humors. This power renders their arrangement definite and distinct from that of other bodies. The resulting proper concord is called vital harmony, generated by a life-giving spirit hidden within.
The conclusion thus retains a real vital harmony as an effect. “Soul is not harmony” cannot be expanded into “living bodies have no harmony,” and “generated by life-giving spirit” cannot be inverted to make that spirit merely a product of humoral concord. The use of spiritus here requires caution. Chapter 6 explicitly describes a bodily spirit as medium; this chapter emphasizes an inward life-giving source and its superiority to the concord produced. The supplied wording does not by itself settle every ontological relation between these formulations.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The edition deliberately renders harmonia, consonantia and concinnitas differently. The explicit question and Immo vero prevent the movement from external principle to inward continuing agency from disappearing into a paraphrase. No Greek words are printed in this argument.
assidue / naturaliter / interius
assidue / naturaliter / interius. Printed forms: assidue; interius; latente; naturaliter.
Continually, naturally and inwardly. These qualifiers explain why the vital organization requires an operative inner power, not merely a one-time external arrangement. References: VII.11.1. See Vital harmony and its producer.
concinnitas / consonantia
concinnitas / consonantia. Printed forms: concinnitas; concinnitate; concinnitatem; consonantia; consonantiae; consonantiam.
Fitting arrangement and concord, locally used to explain harmony. The defender qualifies the proposed soul-harmony as a specific arrangement, requiring an explanation beyond concord in general. References: VII.11.1. See Vital harmony and its producer.
conspiratio / concinere / coalescere
conspiratio / concinere / coalescere. Printed forms: coalescent; concinunt; conspiratione; mutua.
Mutual accord, harmonizing and growing or holding together. Some agreement exists in every composite body, so agreement as such cannot distinguish living bodies from all composites. References: VII.11.1. See Vital harmony and its producer.
contemperare / temperatrix
contemperare / temperatrix. Printed forms: contemperans; contemperatam; temperat; temperatrix.
To temper together and the power performing that tempering. The producer of vital concord is superior to the concord produced, preserving a causal distinction within the harmony vocabulary. References: VII.11.1. See Vital harmony and its producer.
extrinsecum principium
extrinsecum principium. Printed forms: extrinsecone principio; extrinsecum.
A principle from outside the concord considered in itself. Ficino affirms the need for a source beyond bare concord but says an external source alone does not explain constant inward tempering. References: VII.11.1. See Vital harmony and its producer.
ratio animae
ratio animae. Printed forms: rationem animae.
The defining account of soul. It differs from concord’s bare account once the theory needs a special further determination to distinguish living harmony. References: VII.11.1. See Vital harmony and its producer.
vivificus spiritus / vitalis harmonia
vivificus spiritus / vitalis harmonia. Printed forms: vitalis harmonia; vivifico spiritu.
A life-giving spirit and the vital harmony generated by it. The text retains harmony as a real product while denying its identity with the producing life-giving principle. References: VII.11.1. See Vital harmony and its producer.