Editing Marsilio Ficino (section)

=== 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>