Commentaries on Plato

by Ficino, Marsilio; Allen, Michael J. B.

• ISBN13: 9780674031197
• ISBN10: 0674031199
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-15
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

Marsilio Ficino (14331499), the Florentine scholar-philosopher-magus, was largely responsible for the Renaissance revival of Plato. The publication of his Latin translations of the dialogues in 1484 was an intellectual event of the first magnitude, making the Platonic canon accessible to western Europe after the passing of a millennium and establishing Plato as an authority for Renaissance thought. This volume contains Ficinors"s extended analysis and commentary on the Phaedrus, which he explicates as a meditation on "beauty in all its forms" and a sublime work of theology. In the commentary on the Ion, Ficino explores a poetics of divine inspiration that leads to the Neoplatonist portrayal of the soul as a rhapsode whose song is an ascent into the mind of God. Both works bear witness to Ficinors"s attempt to revive a Christian Platonism and what might be called an Orphic Christianity.

Table of Contents

Prefatory

Note

Introduction

The Phaedrus' ""Mythical Hymn""

Commentary on the Phaedrus

Comment, and Chapter Summaries of the Phaedrus

Introduction to the Ion

Heaven and World

The Prague Manuscript

Ficino's Notes on MS Riccardianus 70

Note on the Texts

Notes to the Text

Notes to the Translation

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.