Editing Marsilio Ficino (section)

== Career and thought ==

=== Platonic Academy ===
During the sessions at Florence of the [[Council of Ferrara-Florence]] in 1438–1445, during the failed attempts to heal the [[Western Schism|schism of the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) churches]], [[Cosimo de' Medici]] and his intellectual circle had made acquaintance with the Neoplatonic philosopher [[Gemistus Pletho|George Gemistos Plethon]], whose discourses upon Plato and the Alexandrian mystics so fascinated the humanists of Florence that they named him the second Plato. In 1459 [[John Argyropoulos]] was lecturing on Greek language and literature at Florence, and Ficino became his pupil.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |inline=y|wstitle=Ficino, Marsilio |volume=10 |pages=317–319 |first=John Addington |last=Symonds |author-link=John Addington Symonds}}</ref>

[[File:Corpus Hermeticum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''[[Corpus Hermeticum]]'': first Latin edition, by Marsilio Ficino, 1471, at the [[Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica]], [[Amsterdam]].]]
When Cosimo decided to [[Platonic Academy (Florence)|refound]] [[Plato's Academy]] at Florence, he chose Ficino as its head. In 1462, Cosimo supplied Ficino with [[Greek language|Greek]] manuscripts of Plato's work, whereupon Ficino started translating the entire corpus into [[Latin]]<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8duCpxbqUp4C&pg=PA98 |title=The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance: A Sourcebook |editor-link=Kenneth R. Bartlett |editor-first=K. R. |editor-last=Bartlett |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1442604858}}</ref> (draft translation of the dialogues finished 1468–69;<ref>{{cite book |first=J. |last=Hankins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BLgfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA300 |title=Plato in the Italian Renaissance |year=1990 |pages=300|publisher=Brill |isbn=9004091610 }}</ref> published 1484). Ficino also produced a translation of a collection of Hellenistic Greek documents found by [[Leonardo da Pistoia (monk)|Leonardo da Pistoia]] later called [[Hermetica]],<ref>[[Frances A. Yates|Yates, Frances A]]. (1964) ''[[Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition]].'' [[University of Chicago Press]] 1991 edition: {{ISBN|0-226-95007-7}}</ref> and the writings of many of the Neoplatonists, including [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], [[Iamblichus (philosopher)|Iamblichus]], and [[Plotinus]].

Among his many students were Niccolo [[Valori family|Valori]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XmMRAGJVHzAC Nuovo Dizionario Istorico], Va = Uz, vol. 21, transl. from French, Remondini of Venice (1796); p. 51.</ref><ref>Niccolo Valori (died 1527) wrote a biography of Lorenzo de' Medici the elder and published posthumously in 1568.</ref> and [[Francesco Cattani da Diacceto]]. The latter was considered by Ficino to be his successor as the head of the Florentine Platonic Academy.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ficino/#LifStyPlaAca Marsilio Ficino], entry by [https://johnshopkins.academia.edu/ChristopherCelenza Christopher Celenza] in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref> Diacceto's student, [[Giovanni di Bardo Corsi]], produced a short biography of Ficino in 1506.<ref>[http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~orpheus/corsi.htm Annotated English translation of Corsi's biography of Ficino] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015095305/http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~orpheus/corsi.htm |date=15 October 2011 }}</ref>

=== Theology, astrology, and the soul ===
{{Hermeticism|expand=Historical figures}}
[[File:Angel Appearing to Zacharias (detail) - 1486-90.JPG|thumb|left|''Zachariah in the Temple'' (detail), a fresco by [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]] (1486–1490) in the [[Tornabuoni Chapel]], Florence, showing (L-R): Marsilio Ficino, [[Cristoforo Landino]], [[Angelo Poliziano]] and [[Gentile de' Becchi]] or [[Demetrios Chalkondyles]]]]
Though trained as a physician, Ficino became a priest in 1473.<ref>[[Christiane Joost-Gaugier|Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier]], ''Pythagoras and Renaissance Europe: Finding Heaven'', Cambridge University Press, 2009.</ref><ref>Oskar, Kristeller Paul. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vDhRLwIzp6gC&dq=ficino+priest+1473+Kristeller+Paul+Oskar&pg=PA265 ''Studies in Renaissance thought and letters. IV'']. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e letteratura, 1996: 565.</ref><ref>{{Cite web
| title = Three Books on Life
| work = World Digital Library
| access-date = 2014-03-01
| date = 26 February 2014
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11614/
}}</ref> In 1474 Ficino completed his treatise on the immortality of the soul, ''[[Platonic Theology (Ficino)|Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animae]]''<ref name=EB1911/> (Platonic Theology) and ''De Christiana Religione'' (On the Christian Religion), a history of religions and defense of Christianity.<ref name="DeitzKraye1997">{{cite book|last1=Deitz|first1=Luc|title=Cambridge Translations of Renaissance Philosophical Texts|last2=Kraye|first2=Jill|chapter=Marsilio Ficino|year=1997|pages=147–155|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511803048.014|isbn=9780511803048}}</ref> In the rush of enthusiasm for every rediscovery from Antiquity, he exhibited some interest in the arts of [[astrology]] (despite denigrating it in relation to divine revelation), which landed him in trouble with the [[Catholic Church]]. In 1489 he was accused of [[Christian heresy|heresy]] before [[Pope Innocent VIII]]<ref name=EB1911/> and was acquitted.

Writing in 1492 Ficino proclaimed: {{blockquote|"This century, like a [[golden age]], has restored to light the [[liberal arts]], which were almost extinct: [[grammar]], poetry, [[rhetoric]], painting, sculpture, architecture, music&nbsp;... this century appears to have perfected [[astrology]]." |source=A letter to a friend (1492)|title=Marcilio Ficino}}

Ficino's letters, extending over the years 1474–1494, survive and have been published.<ref name=EB1911/> He wrote ''De amore'' (Of Love) in 1484. ''[[De vita libri tres]]'' (Three books on life), or ''De triplici vita''<ref name="Walker2000">{{cite book|author=Daniel Pickering Walker|title=Spiritual and Demonic Magic: From Ficino to Campanella|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-XjCKQi1lgC|date= 2000|publisher=[[Penn State Press]]|isbn=0-271-02045-8|page=3}}</ref> (The Book of Life), published in 1489, provides a great deal of medical and astrological advice for maintaining health and vigor, as well as espousing the [[Neoplatonist]] view of the [[Anima mundi|world's ensoulment]] and its integration with the human soul:
{{blockquote|There will be some men or other, superstitious and blind, who see life plain in even the lowest animals and the meanest plants, but do not see life in the heavens or the world&nbsp;... Now if those little men grant life to the smallest particles of the world, what folly! what envy! neither to know that the Whole, in which 'we live and move and have our being,' is itself alive, nor to wish this to be so.<ref>Marsilio Ficino, ''Three Books on Life'', translated by Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark, Tempe AZ: The Renaissance Society of America, 2002.  From the ''Apologia'', p. 399.  (The internal quote is from Acts 17:28.)</ref>}}

One metaphor for this integrated "aliveness" is Ficino's astrology. In the ''Book of Life'', he details the interlinks between behavior and consequence. It talks about a list of things that hold sway over a man's destiny. Regardless, in his later extensive commentary on Plotinus's Ennead III, he actively and systematically repudiated the Neoplatonic account of the soul, the hypostasis Soul's unity, as well as the transmigration of the soul, the soul's eternity as opposed to mere imperishability, and the notion that the soul was created by intermediaries and not by God directly. Instead he preferred to interpret all of these more pagan Neoplatonic points, as Stephen Gersh comments in his Analytic Study of the same work, as moral allegories―in keeping with his general tendency towards concordance between Platonism and Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gersh |first=Stephen |title=Commentary on Plotinus, Volume 4: "Ennead III", Part 1, Analytical Study |date=23 October 2017 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780674974982 |edition=1st |location=Harvard |publication-date=23 October 2017 |pages=xxvii-l |language=English |trans-title=Analytical Study}}</ref>

=== Medical works ===
Probably due to early influences from his father, Diotifeci, who was a doctor to Cosimo de' Medici, Ficino published Latin and Italian treatises on medical subjects such as ''Consiglio contro la pestilenza'' (Recommendations for the treatment of the plague) and ''De vita libri tres'' (Three books on life). His medical works exerted considerable influence on Renaissance physicians such as [[Paracelsus]], with whom he shared the perception on the unity of the [[Microcosm–macrocosm analogy|microcosmos and macrocosmos]], and their interactions, through somatic and psychological manifestations, with the aim to investigate their [[Doctrine of signatures|signatures]] to cure diseases. Those works, which were very popular at the time, dealt with astrological and alchemical concepts. Thus Ficino came under the suspicion of heresy; especially after the publication of the third book in 1489, which contained specific instructions on healthful living in a world of demons and other spirits.<ref>Marsilio Ficino. [http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~orpheus/ficino.htm Biography and introduction to The Letters of Marsilio Ficino, Volume 1] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722235556/http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~orpheus/ficino.htm |date=22 July 2014 }}  1975 Fellowship of the School of Economic Science, London. Retrieved 26 April 2014.</ref>

=== Platonic love ===
Notably, Ficino coined the term [[Platonic love]], which first appeared in his letter to Alamanno Donati in 1476. In 1492, Ficino published ''Epistulae'' (Epistles), which contained Platonic love letters, written in Latin, to his academic colleague and life-long friend, [[Giovanni Cavalcanti (poet)|Giovanni Cavalcanti]], concerning the nature of Platonic love. Because of this, some have alleged Ficino was a homosexual, but this finds little basis in his letters or his general works and philosophy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kaske |first=Carol |date=2006 |title=Review: Marsilio Ficino. The Letters of Marsilio Ficino. |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1353/ren.2008.0389 |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=829 |doi=10.1353/ren.2008.0389 |jstor=10.1353/ren.2008.0389 |s2cid=164146779 |quote="I find no evidence in his letters of the homosexuality of which some contemporaries and some scholars over the last fifty years have suspected him." }}</ref> In his commentary on the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', too, he specifically denies to his readers that the [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|homosexual references]] made in Plato's dialogue were anything more than to bemuse the audience, "spoken merely to relieve the feeling of heaviness".<ref>Ficino, Marsilio, "The Commentary of Marsilio Ficino to Plato's ''Republic''", in Arthur Farndell, ed. and transl., ''When Philosophers Rule: Ficino on Plato's'' Republic'','' Laws'', and'' Epinomis (Shepheard-Walwyn, 2009), p. 24.</ref> Regardless, Ficino's letters to Cavalcanti resulted in the popularization of the term Platonic love in Western Europe.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}