1 Marsilii Ficini florentini insignis philosophi platonici media atque theologi clarissimi opera et quae hactenus extitere … (Basel, 1576, repr. 1959), p. 572: “Alius ergo dicet. Nonne Marsilius est sacerdos? Est profecto. Quid igitur sacerdotibus cum medicina? Quid rursum cum astrologia commercii? Alius item: quid Christiano cum magia vel imaginibus?“; Raymond, Marcel,Marsile Ficin (1433-1499)(Paris, 1958), pp. 495–503 Google Scholar. Throughout, I will refer in the text to De vita coelitus comparanda as De vita/ / / and to the above edition of Ficino's works as Ficino, Opera. Unless otherwise indicated, all references in the notes to Ficino, Opera, are to the text of De vita III as printed in the Basel, 1576, edition. All translations are mine unless otherwise identified. Versions of this paper were read at a meeting of the Renaissance Society of London at the Warburg Institute in May, 1981; at the Medieval Academy of America's 57^th Annual Meeting in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in May, 1982; and at the Columbia Renaissance Seminar in April, 1983. For their encouragement and criticism I would like to thank Michael Allen, Charles Burnett, Paul Oskar Kristeller, Charles Schmitt, D. P. Walker, Charles Webster and, especially, Dame Frances Yates, whose death in 1981 was a great loss to all who may be interested in this paper.

2 Ficino, Apologia, in Opera, p. 573; cf. Proemium in librum de vita coelitus and Verba Marsilii|Ficini ad lectorem, in Opera, pp. 529-531 and Kristeller, P. O.,Supplementum Ficinianum (Florence, 1937), I, pp. xii Google Scholar, lxxxiv, for the place of De vitaIII in MS Laur. 82,11 and in Ficino's Plotinus commentary.

3 Hermes Trismegistus, Proclus and “the Question of a Theory of Magic in the Renaissance,“ read at the Folger Library Conference on Hermes Trismegistus in March, 1982 Google Scholar, and scheduled to be published with the papers of that conference.

4 Walker, D.P.,Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella (Studies of the Warburg Institute, 22, London, 1958), pp. 42–44.Google Scholar

5 Ficino, Opera, p. 547: “Neque tamen dicimus spiritum nostrum coelestibus duntaxat per qualitates rerum notas sensibus praeparari sed ctiam multoquc rnagis per proprietates quasdam … sensibus nostris occultas rationi vix deniquc notas.“

6 Ficino, Opera, pp. 536, 541, 547-48, 553, 560, 562, 564.

7 Galen, Ad Pisonem de theriaca, 3 (Kühn XIV, 224-225): … δύναμιν τινα έƛϰτιϰὴν ɛἰναι αὐτὴ; De locis affectis, 5.6 (Kühn VIII, 339-340): … ἰδιóτητɛς γάϱ τινɛς ἄϱϱητoι; De simplicium medicamentorum temperatnentis, 9.1.4 (Kühn XII, 192): … ϰατὰ τὰς δϱαoτιϰὰς πoιóτητας… ϰατὰ τὴν ἰδιóτητα τὴς oὐoἰας; ibid., 12.1.34 (Kühn XII, 356): … іδιóτητι δɛ τὴς ὅƛης oὐoἰας θαυμαoτῶς ; ibid., 11.2.23 (Kiihn XII, 300-301); De compositione medicamentorum secundum locum, 8.8 (Kühn XIII, 212); De compositione medicamentorum per genera, 1.16 (Kühn XIII, 435); De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis, 4.9, 5.1, 5.7, 5.18-19, 6.1 (Kühn XI, 650, 704-706, 726- 727, 761, 767, 803-804); In Hippocratis epidemiarum librum sextum commentarium, 65 (Kühn XVII/II, 336-7); De temperamentis, 3.1 (Kühn I, 654-655); all these passages are discussed in Julius, Röhr, Derokkulte Krajibegriffin Altertum (Philologus Supplementband, XVII, Heft 1, Leipzig, 1923), pp. 95, 99, 108–113 Google Scholar; see also: Massimo Bianchi, “Occulto e manifesto nella medicina del rinascimento: Jean, Fernel e Pietro Severino,” Atti e memorie dell'Accademia Toscana di scienze e lettere, La Colombaria, 47, new ser. 33 (1982), 203–204.Google Scholar The word “undescribable” translates ἄϱϱητoς, the privative of ϱητóς, “stated, specified, spoken of, famous, able to be spoken, communicable, rational“; therefore, “unspoken, unable to be spoken, not to be divulged, unutterable.” The religious connotations of these latter senses are surely present in Galen's application of the word to cures not altogether comprehended by medicine.

8 [Galen] De affectuum renibus insidentium dignotione et curatione 0 (Kühn XIX, 677-678): nothing more about its dating or authorship. See Vivian Nutton, Karl Gottlob Kühn and his Edition of the Works of Galen (Oxford, 1976), pp. 6, 30.

9 Galen, DesimpHcium medicamentorum temperamcntis, 10.2.1, 19, 21 (Kühn XII, 192, 207, 209).

10 Dioscorides, Materia medica, 5.141-142.

11 Galen, ,De simpHcium medicamentorum temperamentis, 6.3.10 (Kühn XI, 858-861).Google Scholar

12 Galen, , De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis, 10.2.19 (Kühn XII, 207); Campbell Bonner,Studies in Magical Amulets Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian (Ann Arbor, 1950), pp. 22-25, 5i. 54–6o.Google Scholar

13 Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, 2.23.36, 29.45: “Aliud est enim dicere tritam istam herbam si biberis venter non dolebit; aliud est dicere istam herbam collo si suspenderis venter non dolebit. Ibi enim probatur contemperatio salubris, hie significatio superstitiosa damnatur.“

14 Ficino, Opera, pp. 534, 570-571.

15 Ficino, Opera, pp. 551-552; for the relationship between this passage and MS Vallicellianus F20, fol. 139, which contains Ficino's marginalia on the De sacrificio of Proclus, see my article cited in n. 3 supra.

16 Aristotle, , De anima4i8b4-i3 (trans, Smith, J. A. in McKeon, R., ed.,The Basic Works of Aristotle[New York, 1941], p. 568)Google Scholar; Ficino, Opera, p. 556: ”… dispositio pervia, quam diaphanam vocant, … est in coelo proprium luminis susceptaculum, ideo ubicunque sub coelo haec est naturalis vel modo aliquo comparatur, subito praesens coeleste lumen acquiritur, atque etiam conservatur, ubi una cum hac … est aliquod aerium aqueumve simul et glutinosum ut in … carbunculis …“; ibid., p. 553: “Quid vero si materia durior hoc ipso quod videtur obsistere causae praepotenti magis ictibus se exponit? Sic ensis lignum sub lana incidit, non incisa lana. Sic radius ille fulmineus corio quandoque non laeso dissolvit in eo metallum… . Agunt insuper [radii coelestes] in corpora vel durissima, omnia enim haec ad coelum infirmissima sunt“; ibid., p. 549.

17 Ficino, Opera, pp. 562, 564; Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic, p. 15.

18 Ficino, Opera, p. 551: “Si lapillos quos paulo ante Phoebeos narravimus nactus fueris, nihil opus erit imagines eis imprimere. Suspendes itaque collo comprehensos auro, crocei serici filis quando Sol sub Ariete vel Leone percurrit ascenditque… .“ Ficino uses the word imago for what I will call a talisman.

19 Ficino, Opera, pp. 541, 549, 557, 562.

20 Ficino, Opera, p. 564.

21 Ficino, Opera, pp. 552, 554, 558, 560-561.

22 Ficino, Opera, pp. 541, 551-552, 557-559, 562, 573-

23 Ficino, Opera, p. 558: “At si quid mirabile per eas ultra consuetos naturalium cffectus nobis eveniat, in daemones reiicit hominum seductores, quod in libro Contra gentiles perspicue patet, maxime vero in libello De occultis naturae operibus, ubi videtur etiam ipsas imagines parvipendere, quomodocunque factas, quas et ego quatenus ipse iusserit, nihilipendam“; Aquinas, SCG, III, 104-105; De occultis operibus naturae, 17, 20; [Albertus], Speculum astronomiae, 11, 16. For the letter On the Occult Works ofNature, see Joseph B., McAllister, The Letter of St. Thomas Aquinas De Occultis operibusnaturae ad quemdam militem ultramontanum(Washington, D.C., 1939), pp. 20-30, 190– 197 Google Scholar; I will cite this work according to McAllister's, paragraph divisions. For the authorship of theSpeculum astronomiae,see Alberti, B. Magni … opera omnia …, ed. Borgnet, A. (Paris, 1891), p. 629 Google Scholar, n. 1; Stefano, Caroti et al., eds., Speculum astronomiae (Quadema di storia e critica delta scienza,n.s. 10,Pisa, 1977)Google Scholar; Lynn, Thorndike, A Historyof Magic and Experimental Science (New York, 1923), II, 692–694.Google Scholar

24 Ficino, Opera, pp. 541, 558, 569, 571; Aquinas, SCG, III, 99, 104-105; [Aquinas], Defato, 5; Augustine, De doctrina Christiana, 2.23.36, 29.45; supra, n. 13; Thorndike, History, II, 612-615; Etienne, Gilson,Le Thomisme: Introduction à la philosophie de SaintThomas d'Aquin(6th ed. rev.; Paris, 1965), pp. 461–463 Google Scholar; Eschmann, I. T., “A Catalogue of St. Thomas's Works: Bibliographical Notes,” in Etienne Gilson,The Christian Philosophyof St. Thomas Aquinas(London, 1957), p. 423, no. 74Google Scholar; Martin, Grabmann, Dieechten Schriften des HI. Thomas von Aquin aujGrund der alten Kataloge undder handschriftlichenUberlieferung, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Mittelalters, Texte und Untersuchungen, Band XXII, Heft 1-2 (Münister, 1920), pp. 134–137, 173.Google Scholar

25 Aquinas, SCG, III, 104-105; ST, II—II, 96, 2, resp., ad 1-2; De occultis operibus naturae, 14, 17-20; Ficino, Opera, p. 558; Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic, pp. 42-44.

26 Ficino, Opera, p. 558: “In libro etiam De fato ait constellationes dare ordinem essendi atque perdurandi non solum rebus naturalibus sed etiam artificiosis, ideo imagines sub certis constellationibus fabricari“; [Aquinas,] De fato, 5.

27 Aquinas, ST, II—II, 96, 2, ad 2: ”… ex impressione caelestium corporum nullam virtutem sortiuntur inquantum sunt artificialia, sed solum secundum materiam naturalem.“

28 SCG, III, 105: “Quia vero figurae in artificialibus sunt quasi formae specificae, potest aliquis dicere quod nihil prohibet quin constitutionem figurae, quae dat speciem imagini, consequatur aliqua virtus ex influentia caelesti, non secundum quod figura est, sed secundum quod causat speciem artificiati, quod adispicitur virtutem ex stellis. Sed de litteris quibus inscribitur aliquid in imagine, et aliis characteribus, nihil aliud potest dici quam quod signa sunt.” On Ficino's familiarity with Aquinas and especially the Summa contra gentiles, see P. O. Kristeller, “Thomism and the Italian Thought of the Renaissance,” in Edward P., Mahoney, ed., Medieval Aspects of Renaissance Learning(Duke Monographs in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1, Durham, N.C., 1974), pp. 73– 74 Google Scholar; “The Scholastic Background of Marsilio, Ficino,” in Studies in Renaissance Thoughtand Letters (Rome,1956), pp. 39–42 Google Scholar; The Philosophy of Marsilio Ficino (trans. Conant, V., Columbia Studies in Philosophy, 6, New York, 1943, repr. 1964), pp. 12–14 Google Scholar; Michael, J. B. Allen, Marsilio Ficino:The Philebus Commentary (Berkeley, Cal., 1975), pp. 81–83, 87-89, 295-297, 375-379Google Scholar; Ardis B., Collins, The Secular is Sacred: Platonism andThomism in Marsilio Ficino's Platonic Theology (International Archives of the History ofIdeas, 69, The Hague, 1974), pp. 47-54, 67–70 Google Scholar, shows how Thomas influenced Ficino's treatment of form in the Theologia Platonica. McAllister, Letter, pp. 107-109, in analyzing SCC, III, 105, omits the crucial passage at the end of the chapter.

29 Albertus, , De mineralibus, 2.3.5ff; see also:Book of Minerals, trans. Wyckhoff, D. (Oxford, 1967), pp. xxix-xli, 262–277 Google Scholar; John M., Riddle and James A., Mulholland, “Albert on Stones and Minerals,” in J. A. Weisheipl, ed., Albertus Magnus and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays(Toronto, 1980), pp. 203–234.Google Scholar

30 Ficino, Opera, p. 548: ”… coelestium harmonia … tantam habere potestatem existimatur ut non solum agricolarum laboribus atque medicorum artificiis per herbas aromataque conflatis sed etiam imaginibus quae apud astrologos ex metallis lapidibusque fiunt virtutem saepe mirificam largiatur“; ibid., pp. 553, 557, 564.

31 Ficino, Opera, p. 552: ”… merito diffidunt plerique imagines eiusmodi coelestem aliquam virtutem habere. Ego quoque ambigo saepius, ac nisi et omnis antiquitas et omnes astrologi vim mirabilem habere putarent, habere negarem. Negarem equidem non omnino, opinor enim … ad prosperam valetudinem saltern aliquam habere virtutem, electae praesertim ratione materiae, tametsi multo maiorem inesse pharmacis arbitror et unguentis sidereo favore conflatis.“

32 Ficino, Opera, p. 552: “Ego vero, si hanc annulus ille vim habet, arbitror non tam per figuram quam per materias eiusmodi et hoc pacto temporeque compositas sibi coelitus vendicare“; ibid., pp. 553-554, 558; Albertus, De mineralibus, 2.3.5.

33 Ficino, Opera, p. 554: “Praeterea imaginem efficaciorem fore si virtus in materia eius elementaris conveniat cum speciali eiusdem virtute naturaliter insita, atque haec insuper cum virtute altera speciali per figuram coelitus capienda.“

34 ST, I, 65, 4, resp.: ”… formae corporales causantur … quasi materia reducta de potentia in actum ab aliquo agente composite Sed quia agens compositum, quod est corpus, movetur a substantia spirituali creata …, sequitur ulterius quod etiam formae corporales a substantiis spiritualibus deriventur… . Ulterius autem reducuntur in Deum, sicut in primam causam, etiam species angelici intellectus… .” In the First Part of the Summa theologiae, Thomas sets forth his position on the relation of form to matter by disposing of other views attributed to Plato, Avicenna and “Anaxagoras.” He recognizes the difficulties of expression that impede the analysis of form: e.g., although form lacks esse and is not subsistent, it gives esse to subsistent objects. Thus (I, 45, 8, resp.), “of forms there is no being-made (fieri) or being-created (creari) but a being-concreated (concreata esse).” Despite this important terminological distinction, Thomas’ vocabulary for this central metaphysical issue is quite broad. He speaks of the “coming” (adventus) of form to matter, of matter “receiving” (recipio) form, of forms being “impressed” (imprimo), “ educed” (educo) and “produced” (produco); I, 45, 8 resp.; 50, 2, ad 2; 65, 4, resp., ad 2, 3; 91, 2, resp.; n o , 2, ad 3; infra, n. 52.

35 ST, I, 91, 2, resp.: “Deus … solus est qui sua virtute materiam producere potest creando. Unde ipsius solius est formam producere in materia absque adminiculo praecedentis formae materialis … “ ; ad 3 : “ … motus caeli est causa transmutationum naturalium: non tamen transmutationum quae fiunt praeter naturae ordinem et sola virtute divina …“; 76, 4, resp.; n o , 2, resp.

36 ST, I, 91, 2, ad 2: “animalia perfecta … non possunt generari per solam virtutem caelestis corporis… . licet ad eorum generationem naturalem cooperetur virtus caelestis corporis …, exigitur locus temperatus ad generationum hominum et aliorum animalium perfectorum. Sufficit autem virtus caelestium corporum ad generandum quaedam animalia imperfectiora …“; 45, 8, ad 3.

37 Aquinas, De occultis operibus naturae, 9-11: “Formarum autem substantialium Platonici quidem principium attribuebant in substantiis separatis… . Procedunt tamen tales formae a substantiis separatis ut primis principiis, quae mediante virtute et motu corporum coelestium imprimunt formas apud se intellectas in materiam corporalem. Et quia actiones et virtutes corporum naturalium ex formis specificis causari ostendimus, consequens est quod ulterius reducantur, sicut in altiora principia, in corpora coelestia, vel in virtutes coelestium corporum, et adhuc ulterius in substantias separatas intellectuales“; cf. ST, I, 115, 3, ad 2; no, 1, ad 2; II—II, 96, 2, ad 2; SCG, HI, 92, 104; Thomas, Litt,Les corps célestes dan I'univers de Saint Thomas Aquin (Philosophes médievaux, 7, Louvain, 1963), pp. 113–127 Google Scholar; cf. Ficino, Opera, p. 532.

38 Ficino, Opera, p. 552: “Metallum vero vel lapillus quando momento sculpitur non Videtur novam accipere qualitatem sed figuram.“

39 Ficino, Opera, p. 558: “Non tarn quia [figura talis] sit in ea materia quam quoniam compositum tale iam positum est in certa quadam artificii specie qualis cum coelo consentiat. Haec ait in libro Contra gentiles tertio, ubi characteres et literas figuris additas ridet, figuras vero non adeo nisi pro signis quibusdam ad daemones adiungantur.” For this correction of the Basel, 1576, text I am indebted to Professor Carol Kaske, who is preparing an edition and translation of De vita libri tres. Supra n. 28.

40 Ficino, Opera, p. 555: “Quamobrem ubi lumina, id est, colores figurasque et numeros, astrologi dicunt in materiis nostris ad coelestia praeparandis posse quamplurimum, non temere, ut aiunt, debes ista negare“; ibid., pp. 562, 564.

4l Ficino, Opera, p. 554: “Itaque ars suscitat inchoatam ibi virtutem, ac dum ad figuram redigit similem suae cuidam coelesti figurae, tunc suae illic ideae prorusus exponet, quam sic expositam coelum ea perficit virtute… . “

42 Ficino, Opera, pp. 558-559.

43 Ficino, Opera, p. 562; cf. p. 573; Albertus Magnus, De natura loci, 1,4; for the less frequent classical uses of occultus in something resembling its modern meaning, see Oxford Latin Dictionary, s.v. occultus, 2b.

44 Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1028b33-1029a35 (trans. W. D. Ross, McKeon ed.); 1013a24-29; 1032bI-2; 1043a27-28; 106oa18-22; 1084b3-13; Physics, 190b5-23; 194b25-29; De caelo, 278a15-16; De anitna, 412a; Joseph, Owens,The Doctrine of Being in the Aristotelian “Metaphysics“: A Study in the Greek Background of Medieval Thought(3rd ed. rev, Toronto, 1978), pp. 329–338 Google Scholar; Harold, Cherniss,Aristotle's Criticism of Plato and the Academy(Baltimore, 1944), I, 174 Google Scholar; Bormann, C. von et al., “Form und Materie,” inHistorisches Wörterbuch der Philosophic, ed. Ritter, J. (Darmstadt, 1972), cols. 978–984.Google Scholar

45 Oὐoɩώδης, which occurs as early as Epicurus, is not found in Aristotle. For its application to the matter/form problem, see Plotinus, Enneads, 6.3.3.12-19, where εἰδoς oὐoɩῶδες means “substantial form.” In Proclus, Commentarium in Timaeum (tr. Festugière, III, 299; ed. Diels, II, 255.29) τòν oὐoɩώδη χαϱαϰτἠϱα means “magical sign.” For the magical connotations of oὐoἰo in late antiquity, see: Theodore Höpfner, “Mαγεἰα” in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie, 14/1, cols. 330-334. Clearly, the development of the concepts of substantial form and occult quality in philosophy and medicine between the times of Galen and Avicenna is of great importance, •»» and I hope to fill in some of this gap in a book on Magical Objects to which this essay is preliminary.

46 Liber Canonis Avicennae … (Venice, 1507, repr. 1964), fol. 33: “Quod comeditur et bibitur in corpore humano tribus operatur modis, aut… sola sui qualitate … aut sui materia aut … tota sui substantia… . Sui vero substantia operans est forma sui specifica agens et est ilia qua ipsum est id quod est… . Et sua quidem operans substantia est illud quod forma suae speciei operatur quam acquisivit post complexionem, quod cum eius simplicia se commiscuerunt et ex eis generata fuit res una, praeparavit se ad recipiendum speciem et formam additam super illud quod habent simplicia illius. Haec ergo forma non est qualitates primae quas habet materia, sed est perfectio quam acquisivit materia …, scilicet ilia quam habent post complexion[em] propter complexionis praeparationem, et neque est de simplicibus complexionis neque ipsamet complexio. … Tota autem operatio haec non provenit ex eius complexione, immo ex eius forma specifica advenientem post complexionem. Unde propter hoc vocamus huiusmodi operationem a tota substantia, scilicet forma specifica“; ibid., fol. 507-507^v; Goichon, A.M.,Introduction à Avicenne: Son Epitre des définitions(Paris, 1933), p. 70 Google Scholar; Lexiquede la languephilosophiqued'Ibn Sina (Paris, 1938), pp. 185, 188.

47 Aristotle, De anima412a6-23; Aquinas, ST, I, 76, 4, resp.

48 Aquinas, SCG, II, 92; ST, I, 50, 2, ad 1-2; 118, 2, ad 2; De ente, 14, 22, 46; De occultis operibus naturae, 7, 9, 11, 14; Comm. in de generatione, lib. 1, lect. 8; Comm. in de anima, lib. 2, lect. 2; Ficino, Opera, pp. 80-82, 141, 553, 555; Kristeller, Philosophy, pp. 38, 81-83, 2 3 2 ; McAllister, Letter, p. 93; Bormann, “Form,” col. 1000-1002; Gilson, Thomisme, pp. 172-174, 228-229; Pierre, Michaud-Quantin,Etudes sur le vocabulairephilosophique du moyen ȃge (Lessico intelletuale europeo, 5, Rome, 1970), p. 137 Google Scholar; Anneliese, Maier,An der Grenze uon Scholastik und Naturwissenschaft: Die Struktur der materiellen Substanz, Das Problem der Gravitation, Die Mathematik der Formlatitudinen(2nd ed., Rome, 1952), pp. 4–6 Google Scholar; Michael R., McVaugh, ed.,Arnaldi de Villanova opera medica omnia: II, Aphorismi de gradibus(Granada-Barcelona, 1975), pp. 8, 17–19 Google Scholar; McVaugh presents a distinction between the medical concept, forma specifica, and the philosophical concept, forma substantialis, but he also cites Peter of Abano's, identification of the two; cf.Conciliator… Petri Aponensis liber… differentiarum philosophorum et medicorum appelatus …(Venice, 1526), fol. 99-99V (Diff. LXXI)Google Scholar. Physicians were certainly conscious of a difference between medical and philosophical terminology on this point; infra, nn. 61-63, and Ugo [Benzi] inprimam cum tabula (Venice, 1523), fol. 69; Habes in hoc volumine . , . particulas septem aphorismorum Hyppocratis … cum expositionibus magni Galeni … necnon Jacobi Forliviensis , . . et additionibus Marsilii [de Sancta Sophia] … (Venice, 1508), fol. 139^v.

49 Aquinas, , SCG, III, 92; Deoccultis operibus, 3, 6, 14; Deunitate intellectuscontra Averroistas, 2; Litt, Corps célestes, pp. 113, 115, 121.Google Scholar

50 Aquinas, SCG, II, 58; ST, I, 3, 7, resp.: 65, 4, resp.; 76, 3, resp., 4, resp.; 85, 5, ad 3; Cajetanus, Comm. in de ente, 7, praef.

51 Maier, An der Grenze, pp. 7-14; Maurice de, Wulf, Histoire de la philosophic médievale: Tome I, Des originesjusqu'à Thomas Aquin(5 th ed., Louvain, 1924), pp. 263–264, 272-277Google Scholar. On the problem of the generation of elements in Aristotle, see Friedrich, Solmsen,Aristotle's System of the Physical World: A Comparison with his Predecessors (Ithaca, N.Y., 1960), pp. 80, 321–352.Google Scholar

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54 Aquinas, ST, I, 115, 3, ad 2: ”… principia activa in istis inferioribus corporibus f non inveniuntur nisi qualitates activae elementorum, quae sunt calidum et frigidum et huiusmodi… [quae] se habent sicut materiales dispositiones ad formas substantiales naturalium corporum. Materia autem non sufficit ad agendum. Et ideo oportet super has materiales dispositiones ponere … aliquod principium activum mobile, quod per sui praesentiam et absentiam causet varietatem circa generationem et corruptionem in- feriorum corporum. Et huiusmodi sunt corpora caelestia. Et ideo quidquid in istis infe- rioribus generat, movet ad speciem sicut instrumentum caelestis corporis… .“; 45, 8, resp. 165,4, resp.; De occultis operibus, 7-10, 14, 16: ”… in uno individuo eiusdem spe- ciei virtus et operatio consequens speciem remissius vel intensius inveniatur secundum diversam dispositionem materiae et diversum situm corporum coelestium… .“; SCG, III, 103; Aristotle, Physics, i94bo-i5; Maier, An der Grenze, pp. 22-27; Thorndike, History, II, 607; Grabmann, loc. cit.; Eschmann, loc. cit.; Nancy G., Siraisi,Taddeo Alderotti and his Pupils: Two Generations of Italian Medical Learning(Princeton, N.J., 1981), p. 153.Google Scholar

55 Albertus, De mineralibus, 1.1.5-6, 9; 2.1.3-4, 3-6 (Wyckhoff trans., pp. 65-67, 151); supra n. 29; cf. Bruno, Nardi, “La dottrina d'Alberto Magno sull’ ‘Inchoatio for mae',“ in Studi difilosofiamedievale (Rome,1960), pp. 72–74 Google Scholar, citing Albertus, Denatura loci, 1.1,4; Physica, IV, 1, 10-11.

56 Aquinas, Comm. in metaphysica, lib. 7, lect. 2: “Exemplificat autem hie membra in artificialibus, in quibus aes est ut materia, figura ut forma speciei, id est, dans speciem, statua compositum ex his. Quae quidem exemplificatio non est accipienda secundum veritatem, sed secundum similtudinem proportionis“; ibid., lib. 8, lect. 3; Comm. in physica, lib. 7, lect. 5; Comm. in de anima, lib. 2, lect. 2; Comm. in de caelo, lib. 2, lect. 14; Averroes, Comm. in physica, lib. 2, comm. 13. Since the Peripatetic understanding of form and change was an important ingredient in Ficino's theory of magic, often wrongly called “Hermetic,” it is notable that Aristotle (Physics, 190DI-1 5; Metaphysics, 103335-24) commonly used the example of a statue, even a statue of Hermes, in illustrating these ideas. Such concrete examples could lead to linguistic and conceptual ambiguity in the case of a term like “form,” which in the physical sense might mean something like shape, but metaphysically something like essence. See Joseph Owens, “Matter and Predication in Aristotle,” in Ernan, McMullin, ed.,The Concept of Matter in Greek and Medieval Philosophy(Notre Dame, Ind., 1965), pp. 88–89.Google Scholar

57 Aquinas, SCG, III, 104: “Si autem dicatur quod statua ilia sortitur aliquod principium vitae virtute caelestium corporum, hoc est impossibile. Principium enim vitae in omnibus viventibus est forma substantialis… . Impossibile est autem quod aliquid recipiat aliquam formam substantialem de novo nisi amittat formam quam prius habuit. … In fabricatione autem alicuius statuae non abiicitur aliqua forma substantialis, sed fit transmutatio solum secundum figuram, quae est accidens; manet enim forma cupri, vel alicuius huiusmodi“; ST, I, 7, 1, ad 2; Comm. inphysica, lib. 7, lect. 5; Albertus, De caelo, 3.2.8; Averroes, Comm. inphysica, lib. 7, comm. 16; Comm. in de caelo, lib. 3, comm. 67; Copleston, Medieval Philosophy, II, 47-48, 94, 147, 152-153, 162; Gilson, Thomisme, p. 249.

58 Plusquam commentum in parvam Galeni artem Turisani florentini medici… quod olim quidem Julius Martianus Rota … auxit et emendavit (Venice, 1557), fol. 148^v: ”…figura in artificialibus est forma substantialis, a qua artificialia sunt id quod sunt, gladius enim et serra et similia a sola figura sunt huiusmodi… . In naturalibus autem omnibus … figura non est forma substantialis, sed consequens ipsam, adeoque diversorum specie et forma diversae sunt figurae“; Siraisi, Alderotti, pp. 64-66, 154-155.

59 Siraisi, ,Alderotti, pp. 141-142, 146, 150, 154, 158–159, 179.Google Scholar

60 Siraisi, Alderotti, pp. 150-156; Luke E., Demaitre,Doctor Bernard de Gordon: Professor and Practitioner (Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Studies and Texts, 51, Toronto, 1980), pp. 78–80.Google Scholar

61 Siraisi, ,Alderotti, pp. 160-161, 258; supra n. 48.Google Scholar

62 Benzi, In primam primi, fols. 68^v-69: ”… non est verum quod forma specifica vel tota substantia non sit ad modum loquendi medicorum nisi forma substantialis per quam res est illud quod est… . ita quod hie textus non intelligatur universaliter… . licet hoc nomen forma specifica apud philosophos videatur importare formam dantem esse specificum …, tamen apud medicos … non sumitur forma specifica hoc modo sed … pro omni sive qualitate sive forma substantiali quae est post complexionem.“ On this important physician, see Dean Putnam, Lockwood,Ugo Benzi: Medieval Philosopher and Physician (Chicago, 1951).Google Scholar

63 Jacopo Forliviensis in primum Avicennae canonem expositio cum quaestionibus eiusdem (Venice, 1518), fol. 231: ”… praeter manifestas qualitates in mixtis reperiantur etiam qualitates occultae … [quae] insequuntur potissime celestes influxus… .“; ibid., fols. 75^v, 107, 230-231^v; Summes … interpretationemjacobi Forliviensis in tres libros thegni Galeni cum quaestionibus eiusdem … (Venice, 1508), fol. 159^v; Habes … particulas septem aphorismorum Hyppocratis … cum expositionibus …Jacobi, fol. 139^v.

64 Demaitre, Bernard, pp. 21, 42-43, 97-100, 145-147;Incipit liber Arnaldi de Villa Nova de conservanda iuventute et retardanda senectute, in Arnaldi de Villa Nova … opera nuperrime revisa(Lyon, 1520), fol. 87^v Google Scholar: ”… portare super se de lapide calamite cum croco et… habere corallum suspensum supra os stomachi”. For a recent discussion of sigilla in later medieval medicine, see Joseph, Shatzmiller, “In Search of the ‘Book of Figures': Medicine and Astrology in Montpellier at the Turn of the Fourteenth Century,“ AJS Review, 7-8 (1982-1983), 383–407.Google Scholar

65 For a Renaissance physician and a follower of Ficino who was quite familiar with the works of these Montpellier masters (having studied there himself) as well as with the North Italian writers discussed above, see Copenhaver, B. P.,Symphorien Champier and the Reception of the Occultist Tradition in Renaissance France(The Hague, 1978).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

66 Bernhardt de Gordonio … tractatus de conservatione vitae humanae … editus opera D. Joachimi Baudisii… (Leipzig, 1570), sig. A6; Liber Arnaldi… de conservanda iuventute, fols. 6^v-7, 86-90^v; for Ficino's interest in food, wine, diet, sex, environment and other standard problems of regimen, see especially chapters 6-13, 16-17 of book two, De vita longa, of De vita libri tres, and for Ficino's knowledge of such medical authorities as Arnaldus, Peter of Abano, Pietro di Tussignano, Ramon Lull and Gentile da Foligno, see Giancarlo, Zanier,La Medicina astrologica e la sua teoria: Marsilio Ficino e i suoi contemporanei (Rome, 1977), pp. 21, 23, 47.Google Scholar

67 Ficino, Opera, pp. 531-533, 553, 562-563, 566; Aquinas, SCG, III, 104; Albertus, De mineralibus, 1.1.6; Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic, pp. 3-13, 36-44; Eugenio Garin, “Le ‘Elezioni’ eil problema dell'astrologia,” in Enrico, Castelli, ed.,Umanesitmo e esoterismo (Archivio difilosofia, Padua, 1960), pp. 19–24, 28Google Scholar; Zanier, La Medicina astrologica, pp. 24-28, 33-34, 42, 52-56. As Zanier says, it has often been held that Ficino did not take his spiritus-theory from Plotinus. But see Ennneads, 4.4.26 and Ficino's commentary on it ﹛Opera, p. 1744); note also that not all spiritus was magical since spiritus was a regular element in non-magical physiological theory.

68 See, for example, the heliotropia in Ficino, Opera, pp. 532, 550, 562-563, 570-571.

69 Ficino, Opera, pp. 549-550, 570-572, 1882, 1889; Proclus, De sacrificio, 149.13, 21-22; 150.4, 21; 151.6-16 (ed. Bidez); Elements of Theology, 39, 71-72, 79, 140-145, 189; Iamblichus, De mysteriis, 2.11; 5.7, 12, 23; Asclepius, 23-24, 37-38; Dodds, E.R., ed.,Proclus: The Elements of Theology(2nd ed., Oxford, 1963), pp. 208-209, 222-223, 257-260, 263, 267, 344–345 Google Scholar; Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (Sather Classical Lectures, 25, Berkeley, Cal., 1968), pp. 287, 291-295; Laurence Jay, Rosán,The Philosophy of Proclus: The Final Phase of Ancient Thought(New York, 1949), pp. 67, 85-87, 104– 105.Google Scholar For more detail on Proclus and Ficino, see my article cited in n. 3 supra.

70 Aquinas, SCC, III, 104; Augustine, De civitate dei, 8.19-24; supra n. 40.

72 Ficino, Opera, p. 571: “Ego autem primo quidem ex beati Thomae scntentia puto, si modo statuas loquentes effecerint, non simplicem ipsum stellarum influxum ibi formavisse verba sed daemonas. Deinde si forte contigerit eos in eiusmodi statuas ingredi, non arbitror hos ibi per coelestem influxum fuisse devinctos, sed sponte potius suis cultoribus obsequutos denique decepturos. Nam et natura superior ab inferiore conciliatur aliquando, sed cohiberi nequit.” Yates, Bruno, pp. 66-67, n. I, who cites the same edition of De vita libri tres, has “I at first thought, following the opinion of the Blessed Thomas Aquinas, that if they made statues … ,” but, especially given the parallel between “primo … puto” in the first sentence and “Deinde … arbitror” in the next (not given by Yates), I see no reason to put puto in the past tense.

73 Aquinas, ST, I, 115, 5; II—II. 96, 2-3; SCG, I, 104; Augustine, De civitate dei, 8.23, 10.9-12, 16; 21.6; supra, n. 13.

74 Ficino, Opera, pp. 554, 571-572; supra, n. 41; Plotinus, Enneads, 4.3.10-11; 4.4.36; 5.9.6; Aquinas, ST, I, 115, 2; Copleston, Medieval Philosophy, I, 91-92, 305- 307; II, 16, 47, 170-178, 306; Yates, Bruno, p. 67; Wallis, R. T.,Neo-Platonism (London, 1972), pp. 25, 68–69 Google Scholar; David E., Hahm,The Origins of Stoic Cosmology (Columbus, Ohio, 1977), pp. 60-62, 75–76 Google Scholar; Nardi, “Inchoatio formae,” pp. 75-85, 96-98.

75 Ficino, Opera, p. 572.