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The Letters of Marsilio Ficino Volume 11 - (Book XII) (Hardcover)
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The Letters of Marsilio Ficino Volume 11 - (Book XII) (Hardcover)
Series: Letters of Marsilio Ficino, 11
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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This volume and its companions contain the first English
translation of the letters written by the philosopher-priest who
helped to shape the changes that we associate with the Renaissance.
The letters in this eleventh volume cover the period from autumn
1492 to the spring of 1495, when they appeared in print. A few
related or later items are included in an Appendix. A twelfth
volume will bring the series to completion with nine distinctive
treatises which Ficino gathered into a separate volume in 1476 but
later re-included in his Letters as Book II. In the 1490s, Ficino
was occupied with the political upheavals in Florence, and much of
his effort was concentrated on trying to bring people back into
dialogue with one another, in the hope of finding a more
constructive outlook. Many of the letters in this book are covering
letters to accompany copies of his work On the Sun, which considers
the sun in its many aspects, as a heavenly body, a physical life
force, a source of inspiration and an allegorical representation of
the governing power in the universe. Other important letters
include advice on coping with the evils of the time, the
responsibilities and privileges of the philosopher, a reiteration
of the importance of love, and further reflections on the theme of
light. We note the increasing presence of friends in German lands,
where several of his works were now being published. He also writes
to friends in the French court. One unusual letter tackles a
religious question: Ficino was moved to intervene in an argument on
the degree to which the Platonic philosophers of old anticipated
aspects of the Christian Trinity. While it would be comforting to
find such agreement, Ficino says there is none in Plato, though
some of the later Platonists offer confirmation of Christian
doctrines in their writings. Another controversy relates to the
status of astrology, for which Ficino claims only a modest place
despite his own writings on the subject. In a related letter on
Providence he again returns to the evils the city is experiencing
and how these might best be met. Facing one of those evils head on,
Ficino composed an address to the French King whose armies were
threatening Florence. It is not known whether this address was
delivered delivered in the presence of the king during the meeting
which Ficino and others attended, but it lies on record as a
genuine attempt to resolve hostilities. The illustration on the
front of the jacket is from a manuscript of the earliest version of
Ficino's work On the Sun, written in 1492 for Count Eberhard of
Wurttemberg. It is reproduced with kind permission of the
Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart (HB XV 65,fol.7r). A
translation of this early version is included in the Appendix.
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