Plato · thesis 5>51

Thesis 5>51

Latin

Ex dicto illo Platonis in Phedro, quod nisi anima hominis ea que uere sunt intuita esset, in hoc animal non uenisset, si recte intelligatur, intelligetur quod opinio Plotini ponens transmigrationem animarum in bruta non est ad mentem Platonis.

Copy-text: Farmer 1998, line 23083

Apparatus (Farmer): 1486 Phedro: quod nisi ... venisset. Si recte

1486 print punctuates 'Phedro: quod nisi ... venisset. Si recte' with a colon and period where later editions differ (farmer1998:23106); wording unchanged.

English

Rightly understood, Plato's saying in the Phaedrus—that a human soul could not have entered this animal body without first having beheld the things that truly are—shows that Plotinus is mistaken to read Plato as teaching the transmigration of souls into beasts.

Sense checked against farmer1998:23138; no further crux.

Translation: machine-drafted 2026-09-26 by TRANSLATOR-T07b; sense checked against farmer1998:23138; awaiting human check

Attribution: Pico's own opinion (section 5>, conclusions on the doctrine of Plato) · Pico's stance: endorses

Farmer's cross-references

• 20.4 Anima quae peccauit uel in terreno uel in aereo corpore post mortem bruti uitam uiuit.
• 21.8 Transcorporationem animarum crediderunt omnes sapientes Indorum, Persarum, Aegyptiorum, et Chaldeorum.
• 5>50 Ista propositio in Phedro: Omnis anima totius inanimati curam habet, simpliciter de quacunque uere anima intelligenda est.