Renaissance magic
Marsilio Ficino
Translator of Plato, Plotinus and the Hermetic writings, whose medicine, music and astrology helped give Renaissance planetary magic its form.
- Dates
- 19 October 1433 – 1499
- Dating
- documented dates
- Died
- Careggi, near Florence
The life
Working under Medici patronage, in 1463 he was instructed by Cosimo de' Medici to interrupt his Plato project and translate newly arrived manuscripts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.
Place in the tradition
Ficino believed Hermes far older than the writings actually were. That mistaken date lent Hermetism an authority that survived long after the chronology was corrected.
the written record
Principal works
-
1463
Latin translation of the Hermetic writings
Made philosophical Hermetism accessible to Renaissance Latin readers, and gave it a prestige built on a mistaken date.
-
completed 1474; printed 1482
Platonic Theology
A massive defence of the immortality of the soul and a Christianised Platonic metaphysics.
-
1489
Three Books on Life
De vita libri tres
The most overtly occult of his works: medicine, astrology, music, planetary influence, images, substances, and methods by which the learned can bring themselves into harmony with celestial forces.