Fragments of Marsilio Ficino’s Translations and Use of Proclus’ Elements of Theology and Elements of Physics: Evidence and Study

Abstract

The present paper discusses the question of Marsilio Ficino’s lost translations of Proclus’ Elements of Physics and Elements of Theology. It reviews all known evidence for Ficino’s work on the Elements of Physics and Elements of Theology, examines new references and fragments of these texts in Ficino’s manuscripts, especially in his personal manuscript of Plotinus’ Enneads, and studies how they fit within the Florentine’s philosophical oeuvre. The present case studies of manuscript evidence demonstrate how Proclus accompanied Ficino from his early ‘scholastic background’ through to his mastery of the Platonic tradition late in his career, especially, as is shown, in his study of Pseudo-Dionysius and Plotinus. Despite the fact that scholarship at times pits scholasticism and Renaissance Platonism against each other, in this sense Proclus—largely due to the Elements—bridges the two cultures.