MARSILIO See also:

• MARSILIO FICINO (1433-1499)

FICINO (1433-1499)  , See also:

• ITALIAN

Italian philosopher and writer, was See also:

• BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born at Figline, in the upper See also:

• ARNO (anc. Arnus)
• ARNO, ARN

Arno valley, in the See also:

• YEAR

year 1433 . His See also:

• FATHER

father, a physician of some See also:

• EMINENCE (Lat. eminentia)

eminence, settled in See also:

• FLORENCE
• FLORENCE (Ital. Firenze, Lat. Florentia)

Florence, and attached himself to the See also:

• PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person of Cosimo de' See also:

• MEDICI
• MEDICI, GIACOMO (1817-1882)

Medici . Here the See also:

• YOUNG
• YOUNG, A
• YOUNG, ARTHUR (1741-1820)
• YOUNG, BRIGHAM (1801-1877)
• YOUNG, CHARLES MAYNE (1777–1856)
• YOUNG, EDWARD (1683–1765)
• YOUNG, JAMES (1811-1883)
• YOUNG, THOMAS (1773-1829)

young Marsilio received his elementary See also:

• EDUCATION

education in See also:

• GRAMMAR (from Lat. grammatica, sc. ars; Gr. ypaµ)

grammar and Latin literature at the high school or studio pubblico . While still a boy, he showed promise of rare See also:

• LITERARY

literary gifts, and distinguished himself by his facility in the acquisition of knowledge . Not only literature, but the See also:

• PHYSICAL

physical sciences, as then taught, had a See also:

• CHARM (through the Fr. from the Lat. carmen, a song)

charm for him; and he is said to have made considerable progress in See also:

• MEDICINE

medicine under the tuition of his father . He was of a tranquil temperament, sensitive to See also:

• MUSIC

music and See also:

• POETRY

poetry, and debarred by weak See also:

• HEALTH

health from joining in the more active pleasures of his See also:

• FELLOW

fellow-students . When he had attained the See also:

• AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of eighteen or nineteen years, Cosimo received him into his See also:

• HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL

household, and determined to make use of his rare disposition for scholarship in the development of a See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long-cherished project . During the session of the See also:

• COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council for the See also:

• UNION
• UNION (known locally as Union Hill and officially as Town of Union)

union of the See also:

• GREEK
• GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

Greek and Latin churches at Florence in 1439, Cosimo had made acquaintance with Gemistos Plethon, the Neo-Platonic See also:

• SAGE, RUSSELL (1816-1906)

sage of Mistra, whose discourses upon See also:

• PLATA, RIO DE LA, or RIVER PLATE

Plata and the Alexandrian mystics so fascinated the learned society of Florence that they named him the second See also:

• PLATO

Plato . It had been the See also:

• DREAM (from a root dreug, connected with Germ. trugen, to deceive)

dream of this See also:

• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

man's whole See also:

• LIFE

life to supersede both forms of See also:

• CHRISTIANITY

Christianity by a semi-See also:

• PAGAN
• PAGAN (Lat. paganus, of or belonging to a pagus, a canton, county district, village, commune)

pagan See also:

• THEOSOPHY (from Gr. Oe6s, god, and vogbta, wisdom)

theosophy deduced from the writings of the later Pythagoreans and Platonists . When, therefore, he perceived the impression he had made upon the first See also:

• CITIZEN (a form corrupted in Eng., apparently by analogy with " denizen," from O. Fr. citeain, mod. Fr. citoyen)

citizen of Florence, Gemistos suggested that the See also:

• CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
• CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

capital of See also:

• MODERN

modern culture would be a See also:

• FIT

fit See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place for the resuscitation of the once so famous See also:

• ACADEMY, GREEK
• ACADEMY, ROYAL

Academy of See also:

• ATHENS
• ATHENS ['AN vat, Athenae, modem colloquial Greek `Ath va]

Athens . Cosimo took this hint . The second See also:

• HALF

half of the 15th See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century was destined to be the age of See also:

• ACADEMIES

academies in See also:

• ITALY
• ITALY (Italia)

Italy, and the regnant See also:

• PASSION (post-classical Lat. passio, formed from pati, passus, to suffer, endure)

passion for antiquity satisfied itself with any See also:

• IMITATION (Lat. imitatio, from intitari, to imitate)

imitation, however See also:

• GROTESQUE

grotesque, of Greek or See also:

• ROMAN

Roman institutions .

In See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

order to found his new academy upon a See also:

• FIRM

firm basis Cosimo resolved not only to assemble men of letters for the purpose of Platonic disputation at certain See also:

• REGULAR

regular intervals, but also to appoint a hierophant and See also:

• OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official expositor of Platonic See also:

• DOCTRINE

doctrine . He hoped by these means to give a certain stability to his projected institution, and to avoid the superficiality of See also:

• MERE
• MERE, ADALBERT (1838-1909)

mere See also:

• ENTHUSIASM

enthusiasm . The See also:

• PLAN
• PLAN (from Lat. planes, flat)

plan was See also:

• GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good; and with the rare See also:

• INSTINCT

instinct for See also:

• CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character which distinguished him, he made choice of the right man for his purpose in the young Marsilio . Before he had begun to learn Greek, Marsilio entered upon the task of studying and elucidating Plato . It is known that at this See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early See also:

• PERIOD
• PERIOD (Gr. irepioSos, a going or way round, circuit, aepi, round, and &Sis, way, road)

period of his life, while he was yet a novice, he wrote voluminous See also:

• TREATISES

treatises on the See also:

• GREAT

great philosopher, which he after-wards, however, gave to the flames . In the year 1459 See also:

• JOHN
• JOHN (1167–1216)
• JOHN (1290-c. 1320)
• JOHN (1296-1346)
• JOHN (1371–1419)
• JOHN (1468-1532)
• JOHN (1801-1873)
• JOHN (Heb. llni')
• JOHN (ZAPOLYA) (1487-1540)
• JOHN, 4TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (c. 1695-1762)
• JOHN, DON (1545-1578)
• JOHN, DON (1629–1679)
• JOHN, GOSPEL OF ST
• JOHN, or HAYS (1513–1571)
• JOHN, THE APOSTLE
• JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF

John Argyropoulos was lecturing on the Greek See also:

• LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language and literature at Florence, and Marsilio became his See also:

• PUPIL (Lat. pupillus, orphan, minor, dim. of pupus, boy, allied to puer, from root pm- or peu-, to beget, cf. "pupa," Lat. for " doll," the name given to the stage intervening between the larval and imaginal stages in certain insects)

pupil . He was then about twenty-three years of age . Seven years later he See also:

• FELT (cognate with Ger. Filz, Du. vilt, Swed. and Dan. fill; the root is unknown; the word has given Med. Lat. filtrum, " filter ")

felt himself a sufficiently ripe Greek See also:

• SCHOLAR, SCHOLARSHIP

scholar to begin the See also:

• TRANSLATION

translation of Plato, by which his name is famous in the See also:

• HISTORY

history of scholarship, and which is still the best translation of that author Italy can boast . The See also:

• MSS

MSS. on which he worked were supplied by his See also:

• PATRON

patron Cosimo de' Medici and by Amerigo Benci . While the translation was still in progress See also:

• FICINO, MARSILIO (1433-1499)

Ficino from See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time to time, submitted its pages to the scholars, Angelo Poliziano, Cristoforo Landino, Demetrios Chalchondylas and others; and since these men were all members of the Platonic Academy, there can be no doubt that the discussions raised upon the See also:

• TEXT (Lat. textum, woven fabric, from texere, to weave)

text and Latin version greatly served to promote the purpose of Cosimo's See also:

• FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation . At last the See also:

• BOOK

book appeared in 1482, the expenses of the See also:

• PRESS (through Fr. presse from Lat. pressare, frequentative of premere, to crush, squeeze, press)

press being defrayed by the See also:

• NOBLE, SIR ANDREW (1832- )

noble Florentine, Filippo Valori . About the same time Marsilio completed and published his See also:

• TREATISE

treatise on the Platonic doctrine of See also:

• IMMORTALITY (Lat. in-, not, mortalis, mortal, from mors, death)

immortality (Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animae), the See also:

• WORK

work by which his claims to take See also:

• RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank as a philosopher must be estimated .

This was shortly followed by the translation of See also:

• PLOTINUS (A.D. 204-270)

Plotinus into Latin, and by a voluminous commentary, the former finished in 1486, the latter in 1491, and both published at the cost of Lorenzo de' Medici just one See also:

• MONTH
• MONTH (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Mond, Du. maand, Dan. maaned, &c., and cognate with Lat. mensis, Gr. µi7v, &c., in other branches of the Indo-Germanic family; all ultimately from the root seen in the word for the moon in nearly all those languages

month after his See also:

• DEATH

death . As a supplement to these labours in the See also:

• FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
• FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
• FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
• FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
• FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
• FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
• FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
• FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
• FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
• FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
• FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)

field of Platonic and Alexandrian See also:

• PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wisdom)

philosophy, Marsilio next devoted his energies to the translation of Di6nysius the Areopagite, whose work on the See also:

• CELESTIAL, OR STELLAR

celestial See also:

• HIERARCHY (Gr. iepos, holy, and apxe.v, to rule)

hierarchy, though recognized as See also:

• SPURIOUS

spurious by the Neapolitan humanist, Lorenzo See also:

• VALLA, LORENZO, or LAURENTIUS (c. 1406-1457)

Valla, had supreme attraction for the mystic and uncritical See also:

• INTELLECT (Lat. intellectus, from intelligere, to understand)

intellect of Ficino . It is not easy to value the services of Marsilio Ficino at their proper See also:

• WORTH
• WORTH, CHARLES FREDERICK (1825-1895)

worth . As a philosopher, he can advance no claim to originality, his laborious treatise on Platonic See also:

• THEOLOGY

theology being little better than a See also:

• MASS (O.E. maesse; Fr. messe; Ger. Messe; Ital. messa; from eccl. Lat. missa)
• MASS, IN

mass of See also:

• ILL

ill-digested erudition . As a scholar, he failed to recognize the distinctions between different periods of antiquity and various See also:

• SCHOOLS

schools of thought . As an exponent of Plato he suffered from the fatal See also:

• ERROR (Lat. error, from errare, to wander, to err)

error of confounding Plato with the later Platonists . It is true that in this respect he did not differ widely from the mass of his contemporaries . Lorenzo Valla and Angelo Poliziano, almost alone among the scholars of that age, showed a true See also:

• CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

critical See also:

• PERCEPTION (from Lat. percipere, to perceive)

perception . For the See also:

• REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest, it was enough that an author should be See also:

• ANCIENT
• ANCIENT (also spelt ANTIENT; derived, through the Fr. ancien, old, from the late Lat. antianum, from ante, before)

ancient to secure their admiration . The whole of antiquity seemed See also:

• PRECIOUS (O. Fr. precios, mod. precieux, Lat. pretiosus, of high value or price, pretium)

precious in the eyes of its discoverers; and even a thinker so acute as See also:

• PICO

Pico di See also:

• MIRANDOLA

Mirandola dreamed of the possibility of extracting the essence of philosophical truth by indiscriminate See also:

• COLLATION (Lat. collatio, from conferre, to bring together or compare)

collation of the most divergent doctrines . Ficino was, moreover, a firm believer in planetary influences . He could not See also:

• SEPARATE

separate his philosophical from his astrological studies, and caught eagerly at any fragment of antiquity which seemed to support his cherished delusions .

It may here be incidentally mentioned that this superstition brought him into trouble with the Roman See also:

• CHURCH
• CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
• CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
• CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
• CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
• CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)

Church . In 1489 he was accused of magic before See also:

• POPE (Gr. irarraas, post-classical Lat. papa, father)
• POPE, ALEXANDER (1688–1744)
• POPE, ALEXANDER (1763-1835)
• POPE, JANE (1742-1818)
• POPE, JOHN (1822-1892)
• POPE, SIR THOMAS (c. 1507-1559)

Pope See also:

• INNOCENT (INNOCENTIUS)
• INNOCENT (POPES)

Innocent VIII., and had to secure the good offices of See also:

• FRANCESCO
• FRANCESCO, 210

Francesco See also:

• SODERINI, PIERO (1450-1513)

Soderini, Ermolao See also:

• BARBARO, ERMOLAO (HE1 Mor.AUS BARBARUS) (1454-1493)

Barbaro, and the See also:

• ARCHBISHOP (Lat. archiepiscopus, from Gr. apxceatorcoros)

archbishop Rinaldo See also:

• ORSINI
• ORSINI, FELICE (1819-1858)

Orsini, in order to purge himself of a most perilous imputation . What Ficino achieved of really solid, was his translation . The value of that work cannot be denied; the impulse which it gave to Platonic studies in Italy, and through them to the formation of the new philosophy in See also:

• EUROPE

Europe, is indisputable . Ficino differed from the See also:

• MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of his contemporaries in this that, while he felt the See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of antiquity no less strongly than they did, he never lost his faith in Christianity, or contaminated his morals by contact with paganism . For him, as for See also:

• PETRARCH (1304-1374)

Petrarch, St See also:

• AUGUSTINE, SAINT (354-430)
• AUGUSTINE, SAINT (d. c.613)

Augustine was the See also:

• MODEL (0. Fr. modelle, mod. modele; It. modello, pattern, mould; from Lat. modus, measure, standard)

model of a See also:

• CHRISTIAN
• CHRISTIAN, WILLIAM (1608-1663)

Christian student . The See also:

• CARDINAL (Lat. cardinalis)

cardinal point of his doctrine was the identity of See also:

• RELIGION
• RELIGION, FOLKLORE, CUSTOM

religion and philosophy . He held that philosophy consists in the study of truth and See also:

• WISDOM, BOOK OF, or WISDOM OF SOLOMON (Sept. Io4ia IaXwµwvos; Lat. Vulg. Liber sapientiae)

wisdom, and that See also:

• GOD

God alone is truth and wisdom,—so that philosophy is but religion, and true religion is genuine philosophy . Religion, indeed, is See also:

• COMMON

common to all men, but its pure See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form is that revealed through See also:

• CHRIST (Gr. X pLQTOS, Anointed)
• CHRIST, WILHELM VON (1831-1906)

Christ; and the teaching of Christ is sufficient to a man in all circumstances of life . Yet it cannot be expected that every man should accept the faith without reasoning; and here Ficino found a place for See also:

• PLATONISM

Platonism . He maintained that the Platonic doctrine was providentially made to harmonize with Christianity, in order that by its means speculative intellects might be led to Christ . The transition from this point of view to an almost superstitious See also:

• ADORATION (Lat. ad, to, and os, mouth; i.e. " carrying to one's mouth ")

adoration of Plato was natural; and Ficino, we know, joined in the See also:

• HYMNS

hymns and celebrations with which the Florentine Academy honoured their great See also:

• MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master on the See also:

• DAY (O. Eng. dreg, Ger. Tag; according to the New English Dictionary, " in no way related to the Lat. dies")
• DAY, JOHN (1574-1640?)
• DAY, THOMAS (1748-1789)

day of his See also:

• BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

birth and death .

Those famous festivals in which Lorenzo de' Medici delighted had indeed a pagan See also:

• TONE, THEOBALD WOLFE (1763-1798)

tone appropriate to the sentiment of the See also:

• RENAISSANCE, THE

Renaissance; nor were all the worshippers of the Athenian sage so true to Christianity as his devoted student . Of Ficino's See also:

• PERSONAL

personal life there is but little to be said . In order that he might have leisure for uninterrupted study, Cosimo de' Medici gave him a See also:

• HOUSE
• HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in Gothic it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

house near S . Maria Nuova in Florence, and a little See also:

• FARM

farm at Montevecchio, not far from the See also:

• VILLA

villa of Careggi . Ficino, like nearly all the scholars of that age in Italy, delighted in See also:

• COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country See also:

• LIE, JONAS LAURITZ EDEMIL (1833—1908)
• LIE, MARIUS SOPHUS (1842–1899)

lie . At Montevecchio he lived contentedly among his books, in the neighbourhood of his two See also:

• FRIENDS, SOCIETY
• FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF

friends, Pico at Querceto, and Poliziano at See also:

• FIESOLE (anc. Faesulae, q.v.)

Fiesole, See also:

• CHEERING

cheering,his solitude by playing on the See also:

• LUTE (Arabic al'ud, " the wood "; Fr. luth; Ital. liuto; Span. laud; Ger. Laute; Dut. luit)

lute, and corresponding with the most illustrious men of Italy . His letters, extending over the years 1474-1494, have been published, both separately and in his collected See also:

• WORKS

works . From these it may be gathered that nearly every living scholar of See also:

• NOTE
• NOTE (Lat. nota, mark, sign, from noscere, to know)

note was included in the See also:

• LIST (O.E. lisle, a Teutonic word, cf. Dut. lust, Ger. Leiste, adapted in Ital. lista and Fr. lisle)
• LIST, FRIEDRICH (1789-1846)

list of his friends, and that the subjects which interested him were by no means confined to his Platonic sudies . As instances of his See also:

• CLOSE
• CLOSE (from Lat. clausum, shut)
• CLOSE, MAXWELL HENRY (1822-1903)

close intimacy with illustrious Florentine families, it may be mentioned that he held the young Francesco See also:

• GUICCIARDINI, FRANCESCO (1483-1540)

Guicciardini at the See also:

• FONT (Lat. fans, " fountain " or " spring," Ital. fonte, Fr. les fonts)

font, and that he helped to See also:

• CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast the horoscope of the Casa See also:

• STROZZI

Strozzi in the Via Tornabuoni . At the age of See also:

• FORTY

forty Ficino took orders, and was honoured with a canonry of S . Lorenzo . He was henceforth assiduous in the performance of his duties, See also:

• PREACHING (Fr. preecher, from Lat. praedicare, to proclaim)

preaching in his cure of Novoli, and also in the See also:

• CATHEDRAL

cathedral and the church of the Angeli at Florence .

He used to say that no man was better than a good See also:

• PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest, and none worse than a See also:

• BAD, BCD

bad one . His life corresponded in all points to his principles . It was the life of a sincere Christian and a real sage,—of one who found the best fruits of philosophy in the practice of the Christian virtues . A more amiable and a more harmless man never lived; and this was much in that age of discordant passions and lawless See also:

• LICENCE (through the French from Lat. licentia, licere, to be lawful)

licence . In spite of his weak health, he was indefatigably industrious . His tastes were of the simplest; and while scholars like See also:

• FILELFO, FRANCESCO (1398-1481)

Filelfo were See also:

• INTENT (from Lat. intend ere, to stretch out, extend, particularly in the phrase intendere animum, to turn one's mind to, purpose)

intent on extracting See also:

• MONEY

money from their patrons by flattery and threats, he remained so poor that he owed the publication of all his many works to private munificence . For his old patrons of the house of Medici Ficino always cherished sentiments of the liveliest gratitude . Cosimo he called his second father, saying that Ficino had given him life, but Cosimo new birth,—the one had devoted him to See also:

• GALEN (or GALENUS), CLAUDIUS
• GALEN, CHRISTOPH BERNHARD, FREIHERR VON (16o6-1678)

Galen, the other to the divine Plato,—the one was physician of the See also:

• BODY

body, the other of the soul . With Lorenzo he lived on terms of See also:

• FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

familiar, affectionate, almost parental intimacy . He had seen the young See also:

• PRINCE
• PRINCE (Lat. princeps, from primus capio, " I am the first to take "; Ital. principe, Fr. prince)

prince grow up in the See also:

• PALACE (Lat. Palatium, the name given by Augustus to his residence on the Palatine Hill)

palace of the Via Larga, and had helped in the development of his rare intellect . In later years he did not shrink from uttering a word of warning and See also:

• ADVICE (Fr. avis, from Lat. ad, to, and visum, viewed)

advice, when he thought that the master of the Florentine See also:

• REPUBLIC (Lat. respublica, a commonweal or common-wealth)

republic was too much inclined to yield to See also:

• PLEASURE (through Fr. plaisir from Lat. placere, to please; Gr. rlbovii)

pleasure . A characteristic See also:

• PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof of his See also:

• ATTACHMENT

attachment to the house of Medici was furnished by a yearly See also:

• CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom which he practised at his farm at Montevecchio .

He used to invite the contadini who had served Cosimo to a banquet on the day of See also:

• SAINTS, BATTLE OF THE

Saints Cosimo and Damiano (the patron saints of the Medici), and entertained them with music and singing . This See also:

• AFFECTION (Lat. ad, and facere, to do something to, sc. a person)

affection was amply returned . Cosimo employed almost the last See also:

• HOURS, CANONICAL

hours of his life in listening to Ficino's See also:

• READING

reading of a treatise on the highest good; while Lorenzo, in a poem on true happiness, described him as the See also:

• MIRROR (through O. Fr. mirour, mod. miroir, from a sup-posed Late Lat. miratorium, from mirari, to admire)

mirror of the See also:

• WORLD

world, the nursling of sacred See also:

• MUSES, THE (Gr. Mo6o-at, the thinkers)

muses, the harmonizer of wisdom and beauty in See also:

• COMPLETE

complete See also:

• ACCORD (from Fr. accorder, to agree)

accord . Ficino died at Florence in 1499 . Besides the works already noticed, Ficino composed a treatise on the Christian religion, which was first given to the world in 1476, a translation into Italian of See also:

• DANTE

Dante's De monarchia, a life of Plato, and numerous essays on ethical and semi-philosophical subjects . Vigour of reasoning and originality of view were not his characteristics as a writer; nor will the student who has raked these dust-heaps- of See also:

• MISCELLANEOUS

miscellaneous learning and old-fashioned See also:

• MYSTICISM (from Or. µuety, to shut the eyes; µuorrts, one initiated into the mysteries)

mysticism discover more than a few sentences of genuine enthusiasm and See also:

• SIMPLE

simple-hearted aspiration to repay his trouble and See also:

• REWARD

reward his See also:

• PATIENCE

patience . Only in familiar letters, prolegomena, and prefaces do we find the man Ficino, and learn to know his thoughts and sentiments unclouded by a mist of citations; these See also:

• MINOR
• MINOR (Lat. for smaller, lesser)
• MINOR, ROBERT CRANNELL (1839-1904)

minor compositions have therefore a certain permanent value, and will continually be studied for the See also:

• LIGHT

light they throw upon the learned circle gathered See also:

• ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round Lorenzo in the See also:

• GOLDEN

golden age of See also:

• HUMANISM (from Lat. humanus, human, connected with holm)

humanism . The student may be referred for further See also:

• INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to give shape or form to, to represent, describe)

information to the following works: Marsilii Ficini See also:

• OPERA (Italian for " work ")

opera (Basileae, 1576); Marsilii Ficini vita, auctore Corsio (ed . See also:

• BANDINI, ANGELO MARIA (1726—1800)

Bandini, See also:

• PISA
• PISA, COUNCIL OF (1409)

Pisa, 1771) ; See also:

• ROSCOE, WILLIAM (1753—1831)

Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo de' Medici; Pasquale See also:

• VILLARI, PASQUALE (1827- )

Villari, La Storia di See also:

• GIROLAMO (1450-1486)

Girolamo See also:

• SAVONAROLA, GIROLAMO (1452-1498)

Savonarola (Firenze, Le See also:

• MONNIER, MARC (1827-1885)

Monnier, 1859) ; Von See also:

• REUMONT, ALFRED VON (1808-1887)

Reumont, Lorenzo de' Medici (See also:

• LEIPZIG

Leipzig, 1874) . (J . A .