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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Western philosophy, c 500 to c 1600
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The Letters of Marsilio Ficino, v. 3 (Hardcover)
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The Letters of Marsilio Ficino, v. 3 (Hardcover)
Series: The Letters of Marsilio Ficino
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Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) directed the Platonic Academy in
Florence, and it was the work of this Academy that gave the
Renaissance in the 15th century its impulse and direction. During
his childhood Ficino was selected by Cosimo de' Medici for an
education in the humanities. Later Cosimo directed him to learn
Greek and then to translate all the works of Plato into Latin. This
enormous task he completed in about five years. He then wrote two
important books, "The Platonic Theology" and "The Christian
Religion", showing how the Christian religion and Platonic
philosophy were proclaiming the same message. The extraordinary
influence the Platonic Academy came to exercise over the age arose
from the fact that its leading spirits were already seeking fresh
inspiration from the ideals of the civilizations of Greece and
Rome,and especially from the literary and philosophical sources of
those ideals. Florence was the cultural and artistic centre of
Europe at the time and leading men in so many fields were drawn to
the Academy: Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence's ruler), Alberti (the
architect) and Poliziano (the poet). Moreover, Ficino bound
together an enormous circle of correspondents throughout Europe,
from the Pope in Rome to John Colet in London, from Reuchlin in
Germany to de Ganay in France. Published during his lifetime, "The
Letters" have not previously been translated into English. This
third volume consists of the 39 letters Ficino published in his
book IV, which he dedicated to Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary.
During the period covered by the letters in this volume, Ficino was
working on a revision of his translations of Plato's dialogues and
his commentaries on them. Some of the letters consist largely of
passages taken from the dialogues, for example, those in praise of
matrimony, medicine and philosophy. the largest single letter is a
life of Plato which furnishes some interesting parallels with
Ficino's own life, as described in a near contemporary biography by
Giovanni Corsi which is included, partly for this reason, at the
end of the volume. Corsi comments - "The first thing which
encouraged me to write about this man was that he himself not only
investigated the precepts and mysteries (of the Platonic Academy)
but also penetrated, laid open and expounded them to others. This
was something which no one else for the previous thousand years so
much as attempted, let alone accomplished."
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