Chapter 2 Matter as a Mirror: Marsilio Ficino and Renaissance ...
Chapter 2 Matter as a Mirror: Marsilio Ficino and Renaissance ...
Chapter 2 Matter as a Mirror: Marsilio Ficino and Renaissance ...
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<strong>Matter</strong> <strong>as</strong> a <strong>Mirror</strong> 97<br />
That <strong>Ficino</strong> believed in the capacity of mirrors to contain <strong>and</strong> retain<br />
images becomes obvious from his remark in the same p<strong>as</strong>sage, that according<br />
to the people who are drawing perspectives (persectivici), the image is just a<br />
reflection of an object in the mirror, where<strong>as</strong> according to the natural philosophers<br />
(physici) the image resides there <strong>and</strong> is in the mirror. An amazingly<br />
similar p<strong>as</strong>sage is also to be found in Nature’s confession in the Roman de la<br />
rose:<br />
Nor, […] do I wish to say where such images have their being,<br />
whether inside or outside the mirror, <strong>and</strong> I will not give any<br />
account of other marvellous sights, that are suddenly seen<br />
to occur, or whether to my knowledge they have external<br />
existence or are simply the product of fant<strong>as</strong>y. 154<br />
Omnia vanit<strong>as</strong>. Huc illud Pauli; videmus nunc per speculum in enigmate. Sed quoniam<br />
nunc & in corpora videmus, & speculum: a quibus in quo imagines omnino dependet<br />
ideo ipsam in se imaginum deprehendimus vanitatem, alioquin nisi videmus illa, hanc<br />
redarguere non possemus: sed quae imagines sunt, esse res ver<strong>as</strong> arbitraremur: sicut &<br />
nunc quae naturalia nominantur ver<strong>as</strong> esse substanti<strong>as</strong> opinamur, quoniam neque divinam<br />
neque materiam <strong>as</strong>picere possumus, a quibus in quam ceu simulacra ab obiectis<br />
in speculum prosiliunt atque resiliunt. Profecto vel sicut putant physici imagines rerum<br />
ipse sunt in speculis, velut sicut perspectivi tradunt nullae in speculis sunt imagines,<br />
sed radii rerum in speculum incidunt atque inde si iisdem reflectantur ad occultum.<br />
Quod accidit, ubi ad pares angulos reflectantur, tunc res ipsae per eiusmodi suos radios<br />
oculis ita redduntur, ut tamen sensus ibi fallatur, putans alibi se res videre quam<br />
videat, quomodocunque vero res se habeat, qualis est comparatio speculi ad res visibiles<br />
atque visum, talem esse Plotinus vult atque Porphyrius materiae ad res divin<strong>as</strong>, &<br />
sensum: quam sane materiam velut ipsi prorsus oppositam, existimat radios actusque<br />
primi entis & mentis, non quidem intus admittere, sed ceu densum quoddam & propter<br />
diversitatem entibus invium repercutere prontinus actus eorum, atque haec ipsa qu<strong>as</strong>i<br />
reverberatione apparere sensibus qu<strong>as</strong>i sensibilia, quae in seipsis intelligibile sunt, adeo<br />
ut putemus in materia nos inspicere que in primo ente intellectuque sunt, at que inde<br />
movent animum ut cognoscat: deinde quoniam ipsa entia vel ideae, dum in materiam<br />
agunt, neque de natura sua quicquam amittunt, neque de statu moventur neque in proprortione<br />
vel affectu conveniunt cum materia: ideo quod dari videtur inde velut inane<br />
debilissimumque materiali semper hac indiget sede. Atque interim materia haec quia<br />
nec verum aliquid accipit unquam, neque qualecunque videtur accipere, ob naturalem<br />
falsitatem vere accipit, ideo impletur nunquam, sed semper affectans transmutationi<br />
perpetuae prebet occ<strong>as</strong>ionem.”<br />
154 Romance of the Rose vs. 18,217: 281; see also Seneca, Quest. naturales I, 5,1, who<br />
says that there are two different theories about mirror-images; according to the first, the<br />
mirror gives forth simulacra that are emitted by the reflected bodies, where<strong>as</strong> according to
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