Ficino's Self-Translation of the De amore : Some Linguistic Remarks

This paper analyses Ficino's self-translation of his Commentarium in Convivium Platonis de amore (1469). After discussing the author's position on language (in particular concerning the potentiality for Florentine vernacular of being a proper vehicle for philosophical discourse), the paper takes first into account the textual features shared by both the Latin and the vernacular versions, deeply rooted in some basic assumptions of Ficino's thought. Then the proper translation strategies are considered. A spontaneous search for increasing the accessibility of the text, on the one hand, and for getting it closer to the naturalness of spoken language (possibly reducing philosophical technicality) on the other, appears to be the main guideline of the process of vernacularization: this is coherent with the general ideal, so praised by Ficino in this phase, of a non-scholastic, Socratic and dialectical philosophy. [Publisher's text]