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Ficino, Marsilio – Selected Letters - From a letter to Giovanni Nesi, the passions
Identifier
015993
Type of Spiritual Experience
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A description of the experience
Ficino, Marsilio – Selected Letters
From a letter from Marsilio Ficino to Giovanni Nesi, greetings.
Plato's Timaeus divides the soul into three powers, as into parts, whose natures are reason, passion and desire. He has appointed the power of reason to the head, queen, as it were, in the highest citadel, chiefly because the head more than anything else seems to exert itself in watching; and it is there that all the senses are most vigorous. Next, he has set the Power of passion in the region of the heart, since it is in anger, boldness, and fear that this region is most agitated. Lastly, he has given the power of desire to the liver because its natural vigour lends itself both to the digestion of food and to the growth of bodily craving.