Marsilio Ficino

“Philosophy…
is the ascent of the mind from the lower regions
to the highest, and from darkness to light.”
Marsilio Ficino, Letters, vol 3:18

Who was Marsilio Ficino?

Marsilio Ficino was born in Florence, Italy in 1433. Son of the personal doctor to Cosimo de’ Medici, Ficino was at the very centre of the Italian Renaissance. The heart of the Renaissance was related to Ficino recognising the immortality and divinity of the soul. This is the subject of his only major individual work, Platonic Theology. It is set out as a proof of the soul’s immortality. The significance of this recognition was acknowledged by the Church soon after Ficino’s death.

He followed his father in the study of medicine, and was also a scholar, translator, philosopher, musician and priest. Ficino died in Florence in 1499, never having travelled from the city of his birth.

Ficino’s place in the Italian Renaissance

Cosimo de’ Medici, a leading figure in Florentine politics, and member of the influential banking family, had a great love of classical art and literature. He was a generous patron to the arts and was drawn to philosophy. He wished to bring Plato’s philosophy to Florence. Written, of course, in ancient Greek these would need to be translated into Latin, and this task was given by Cosimo to Ficino. As well as translating Plato’s Dialogues, Ficino wrote commentaries and also translated the works of the Egyptian, Hermes Trismegistus and the Roman, Plotinus.

“It was Ficino more than anyone who took from Plato, Plotinus and the Hermetic writings the concept that part of the individual soul was immortal and divine,
a concept that was all-important to the Renaissance.” (Clement Salaman, “Introduction”, Letters, vol 1: xxi)

In his prolific number of letters Ficino reveals a true philosopher, and it is in these that we get a glimpse of the man himself. His correspondents were scholars, church leaders, heads of state, Popes, as well as a network of like-minded philosophically-oriented men. Ficino’s letter to Pope Sixtus IV, who held the papacy from 1471 until his death in 1484, is an example of Ficino’s wisdom. Sixtus IV is the pope who introduced the Inquisition, and in this letter, we see Ficino teaching in the only way he could teach a pope, by encouraging him to be papal:

“Your victory rests not in war but in peace…
If you gently correct and are forbearing you conquer all…
Let your strength be shown in forbearance
not in aggression; your highest quality lies in being lowly.
You most make all men gentle when you are the most gentle of all…”
Letters, 5:1

Ficino’s letters, which have been translated into English from the Latin by a team of translators at the School of Philosophy and Economic Science in London, are a treasure trove of wisdom, love and unity.  The letters are now printed in 11 volumes.  The benefit of Ficino’s letters, and therefore the Renaissance. is recognised in the way humanity’s character and actions refine toward what is good and true.

His place in the life of Renaissance Florence is evident on visiting Florence Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore. On the side wall we find Ficino, holding Plato’s Timaeus, which speaks of the fine, fine laws of creation, his hands beautifully rendered, as if playing his lyre – they are a musician’s hands.

Why read Ficino now?

The wonder in reading the letters of Ficino is that they are alive. Not dated and stuck in 15th Century Florence, but full of love and light, wisdom and unity. The matters he discusses are as relevant today as when written. He seems to be speaking to us as clearly as he did to those to whom he wrote. The letters have wisdom, humour, advice, a gentle rebuke occasionally, and abundant love, to all his correspondents. He saw no difference between philosophy and religion:

“If Philosophy is defined by everyone as love of, and devotion to truth and wisdom,
while truth and wisdom themselves are God alone,
it follows that lawful Philosophy is no different from true religion.”
Letters, 1:123

Reading these letters today is as relevant as it was to those fortunate enough to have been his correspondents.

“For the use of a still mind is the contemplation of truth,
as the use of a clear sky is to admit sunlight.”
Letters, 1:115