All Things Natural

Ficino on Plato's Timaeus

Plato, Arthur Farndell

• Publisher: Shepheard-Walwyn
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9780856833588
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ancient & Classical Philosophy

Marsilio Ficino, aleading scholar of the Italian Renaissance who translated all the works of Plato into Latin, examines Plato's Timaeus, the most widely influential and hotly debated of the Platonic writings. Offering a probable account of the creation and nature of the cosmos, the discussion incorporates such questions as What is the function of arithmetic and geometry in the design of creation? What is the nature of mind, soul, matter, and time? and What is our place in the universe? To his main commentary Ficino adds an appendix, which amplifies and elucidates Plato's meanings andreveals fascinating details about Ficino himself.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Translator’s Note on the Latin Texts
• Marsilio Ficino’s Compendium on the Timaeus
• 1 The subject matter of the book
• 2 The arrangement of the book and its parts
• 3 Introduction to the dialogue
• 4 An allegory of history; contents of the prologue
• 5 The fall of Phaethon; floods; fires; a description of Minerva
• 6 The finest directions concerning prayers and entreaties
• 7 The world has three causes higher than itself, depends on the incorporeal cause, and is ever in flux
• 8 The Good Itself, rather than subsequent causes, is the cause of all things, and it has no direct relationship with anything
• 9 The dependence of matter on the Good Itself; the action of the mind and soul upon matter; and the intelligible world
• 10 The Sun, light, radiance, brilliance, heat, procreation; likewise unity, goodness, intellect, soul, nature, the body of the world, the image of the higher worlds
• 11 Individual orders are taken back to individual heads, and the universal order is taken back to the universal head, by which all things are composed through action and power
• 12 Matter was not in disarray prior to the world in time, but was arranged according to some principle of order or origin
• 13 Two views concerning the origin of the world
• 14 A threefold inference drawn from Plato’s view of the world, and what is undisputed about his view
• 15 By the grace of the Good the world has been brought into being in the likeness of the divine principle and the divine word
• 16 Why the world is one, why it is spherical, and why its movement is spherical
• 17 Why the world is divided into five or six regions; how the number seven is right for it; circular number; and how the world is arranged in the likeness of the intelligible world
• 18 Why there are distinct parts within the world and why there is opposition among them; also concerning the four elements
• 19 Numbers linear, plane, and solid; why a single intermediary is sufficient between planes but is not sufficient between solids; how mathematical ratios are related to physical ratios
• 20 The first consideration: why the number four in relation to the elements befits the world
• 21 The second consideration: proving the same
• 22 The third consideration: confirming the same
• 23 The fourth consideration of the same; and the powers and ratios of the elements
• 24 The whole world is composed of four elements; how these elements are under a particular principle in the heavens and under a different principle beneath the Moon
• 25 Circular motion is the property of every sphere in constant movement; and light is the principal property of fire
• 26 A confirmation of what was said earlier; concerning fire, ether, the composition of the heavens, and the daemons in the heavens and beneath the heavens
• 27 On the spirit of the world, that is, on intellect, soul, intelligence, and nature
• 28 On the composition of the soul, and why the soul needs five elements for its constitution
• 29 Why the soul is compared to a compound and to musical harmony
• 30 The propositions and proportions related to Pythagorean and Platonic music
• 31 In musical harmonies one is produced from the many; how harmony is defined
• 32 Which harmonies arise from which proportions
• 33 On the harmonious composition of the soul
• 34 The main points about the harmonic numbers which lead to the composition of the soul
• 34*From the intervals of the spheres Plato seeks the intervals of the ratios between the parts of the soul
• 35 How the intervals of the double and triple numbers are filled
• 36 The division of the soul; motion; and time
• 37 The arrangement of the living world through its limbs; the opposite movements of revolutions; and the intersectors of axes and orbits
• 38 Right and left in the cosmos; the movements of the firmament, of the planets, and of the fixed stars; the arrangement of the soul
• 39 The great harmony, within the cosmic being, between the soul and the heavens and between the heavens and the elements, in relation to the higher worlds and the orders of divinities
• 40 Those things which come into being directly from God, and those things which come into being through intermediaries; the words of God in relation to the gods; and the providence of the gods
• 41 Man’s relationship to soul and body
• 42 How the world is composed of mind and necessity
• 43 Natural phenomena are based on the principles of mathematics; concerning the elements and compounds
• 44 More on man: how much regard he gives to the soul, and how much to the body
• 45 On the outward and inward breath, according to Plato and Galen
• 46 On the good health and poor health of the body and the soul
• The Chapter Divisions of the Timaeus with brief commentaries as given by Marsilio Ficino
• Notes to the Compendium
• Soul Numbers
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index