This series is the first English translation of the letters of the philosopher priest who helped to shape the Renaissance worldview. This volume spans the seventeen months from April 1491 to September 1492. This is a crucial period for Marsilio Ficino and Florence itself, for it witnessed the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. In one of the letters Ficino calls him 'the great and god-like Lorenzo'. In a letter to Lorenzo in Volume 1, he had written: 'Almost all other rich men support servants of pleasure, but you support priests of the Muses'.Of the 34 letters in this volume, five are addressed to Martin Prenninger, Professor of Ecclesiastical Law at Tubingen University and counsellor to Count Eberhard. One, the longest in this volume, consists mainly of extracts selected by Ficino from his translation of Proclus' commentaries on Plato's Republic.Another letter to Prenninger gives an insight into Ficino's activities in this period: his work with the Divine Names of Dionysius, the preparation of a copy of his Philebus commentary being made for Prenninger, and the reprinting, in Venice, of his translations of Plato's dialogues and the Platonic Theology.Most interesting and intriguing is Ficino's response to Prenninger's frequent request to receive a list of his friends, with which he complies, requesting him not to infer any ranking from the order in which they are listed.
This series is the first English translation of the letters of the philosopher priest who helped to shape the Renaissance worldview. This volume spans the seventeen months from April 1491 to September 1492. This is a crucial period for Marsilio Ficino and Florence itself, for it witnessed the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent. In one of the letters Ficino calls him 'the great and god-like Lorenzo'. In a letter to Lorenzo in Volume 1, he had written: 'Almost all other rich men support servants of pleasure, but you support priests of the Muses'.Of the 34 letters in this volume, five are addressed to Martin Prenninger, Professor of Ecclesiastical Law at Tubingen University and counsellor to Count Eberhard. One, the longest in this volume, consists mainly of extracts selected by Ficino from his translation of Proclus' commentaries on Plato's Republic.Another letter to Prenninger gives an insight into Ficino's activities in this period: his work with the Divine Names of Dionysius, the preparation of a copy of his Philebus commentary being made for Prenninger, and the reprinting, in Venice, of his translations of Plato's dialogues and the Platonic Theology.Most interesting and intriguing is Ficino's response to Prenninger's frequent request to receive a list of his friends, with which he complies, requesting him not to infer any ranking from the order in which they are listed.
'As if golden, this age has brought back into the light the liberal arts, which were almost extinct: grammar, poetry, rhetoric, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and the ancient art of singing to the Orphic lyre. And all this in Florence.' (Letter 34)* Volume 10 in the Shepheard-Walwyn edition corresponds with Book XI of the original Latin edition.
Acknowledgements; Letter Titles; Introduction; Translators’ Note; The Letters; Appendix Letters; Notes to the Letters; Note on the Latin Text; The Latin Text; Biographical Notes; German correspondents; Correspondents in Italy; Names from Letter; Bibliography; Index
Arthur Farndell has been a member of the team of scholars at the School of Economic Science in London for more than 35 years. He is also the translator of many of Marsilio Ficino s commentaries on Plato s Dialogues, which have been published in four volumes as All Things Natural, Evermore Shall Be So, Gardens of Philosophy, and When Philosophers Rule."
'Such giants as Ficino deserve a wider audience' Umberto Eco; 'Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) was at the very fountainhead of some of the most characteristic and influential aspects of the Italian Renaissance.' C B Schmitt, Times Literary Supplement; 'All that we regard as the norm of Western European art - Botticelli's paintings, Monteverdi's music, Shakespeare's philosophical lovers, Berowne and Lorenzo, Jacques and Portia - has flowered from Ficino's Florence. Kathleen Raine, The Times; 'Undoubtedly these letters comprise one of the "spiritual classics" of the past thousand years.' - Christopher Booker, The Spectator
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