From Late Antiquity Platonic Theurgy to Renaissance Magic: Marsilio Ficino Translates and Interprets Proclus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34096/petm.v46.n2.15838Keywords:
Proclus, Ficino, Theurgy, Magic, AstrologyAbstract
Marsilio Ficino publishes in 1489 his De vita, one of the seminal texts of Renaissance magic. One of the main influences for the development of the notion of magic articulated by Ficino in his De vita as well as in his other works, are the passages from Proclus’ On the hieratic art of the Greeks, translated by Ficino as De sacrificio et magia. Like Proclus, who uses the term theurgy as synonymous with the hieratic art, in a similar way Ficino uses the term magic as synonymous with the hieratic or priestly art, in its turn corresponding to one of the kinds of divine madness (furor). The current article presents the mentioned influences of Proclus on Ficino, also evident in his conception of what he calls the three Graces (fundamental operative symbols of his magical-therapeutical system), offering a critical edition together with a Spanish translation of Sobre el sacrificio y la magia.
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