Xenocrates and the riddle · Lexicon

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordAenigma is a riddle or enigmatic formulation.
In the Platonic TheologyAfter establishing soul as the first movable nature and the source of movement in animated bodies, Ficino says he thinks he has solved the Pythagorean riddle used by Xenocrates.
In this editionThe English “I believe I have solved” keeps arbitror, an authorial claim about explanatory success.
A place to readThe formula is interpreted after the argument for primary self-motion.

Meaning

Aenigma is a riddle or enigmatic formulation. Usurpare here is to employ an expression; solvere to resolve or explain it. Numerus se movens is self-moving number, an expression Ficino expressly glosses.

Use in the book

After establishing soul as the first movable nature and the source of movement in animated bodies, Ficino says he thinks he has solved the Pythagorean riddle used by Xenocrates. He interprets “number” as manifold nature and “self-moving” as changeable by its own property. The formula thus joins two features already distinguished from higher grades: angel is manifold but stable, whereas soul is manifold and mobile. It does not reduce soul to an integer or describe arithmetic calculation as its essence. The attribution also has layers: the riddle is called Pythagorean, Xenocrates is said to use it, and Ficino supplies this interpretation. Those are three claims, not a single directly quoted doctrine independently verified from Xenocrates.

Selected annotated passages.

Places to read

III.1.23The formula is interpreted after the argument for primary self-motion.
III.1.24Further reasons are promised for the existence of that nature.
III.1.25Dependence, regress, and circularity motivate a self-moving source.

Translation in this edition

The English “I believe I have solved” keeps arbitror, an authorial claim about explanatory success. Numerum is the case form in the reported formula; the nominative numerus is a supplied citation form.

aenigma / Xenocrates

aenigma / Xenocrates. Printed forms: aenigma; Xenocrate.

Riddle / Xenocrates. Ficino claims to resolve the Pythagorean formula employed by Xenocrates, separating source, user, and interpretation. References: III.1.23. See Xenocrates and the riddle.

numerus se movens

numerus se movens. Printed forms: numerum se moventem.

Self-moving number. The text glosses number as manifold nature and self-moving as mutable through its own property; it does not define soul as an integer. References: III.1.23. See Xenocrates and the riddle.