Dear brothers in the pursuit of truth, Bernardo Canigiani, Giovanni Canacci, and Amerigo Corsini,
Receive greetings from Marsilio Ficino.
When we first started our conversations about hunting, it was good that we immediately gathered hunting dogs and runners. I believe we rightly called philosophers hunters because they always diligently pursue the truth. However, are we right in comparing them to hunting dogs? We are completely right because Socrates also refers to them as such in The Republic. Those who practice philosophy can be purebred dogs or mixed breeds, but they are all hunting dogs. The first diligently follow the trail of truth and when they catch it, they carefully hold it in their mouths. The others, guided by their fantasies, bark, bite, and tear the truth into pieces. These dogs have taken such liberties that they not only infiltrated some philosophical schools but even founded their own, called the Cynical school.
But the Academy also has its own hunting dogs, so I invite you, the sharp-nosed dogs of our Academy, the fastest among the runners. There are three of you, so I kindly ask you to take care of my three children. They are still young and sensitive, and I am afraid they are about to venture among wolves at the moment. So please hurry, I entrust you with tasks but not the worries that come with them. You are familiar with my dear Giorgio Benigno Salviati. He has been fervently following the same truth for a long time, and you yourselves are chasing it in all directions. He is older than his younger brothers and enlightens them like the Sun. So if you hear wolves howling, let him know. Brave Giorgio will easily scare them away, as he has already faced a massive dragon. This will instantly free me from worries and spare you from troubles. As one of you often says lately, nothing leads to a healthy life more directly than “devouring” time in carefree freedom, and upon hearing this statement, the others burst into laughter. Come on, Canacci, tell me what this expression you keep repeating so often means – “devouring time with dedication”, what do you mean by that? It’s not eating time, you will say, but rather drinking it, not It is not chewing or crushing, but drinking in one breath, as I would say that time is inherently fluid and flows away. And the nature of a liquid is as follows: if we confine it in a narrow space, we will lose it instantly, because when it is limited, it leaks out and quickly drains away. If we want to catch the water absorbed by a sponge, we will squeeze it and pour it out. But if we hold the sponge more carefully, we will retain the water in it. This is even more true for air, fire, and ether, so, as poets say, those who try to comprehend the boundlessness of the gods or spirits are in vain. Anything that is boundless should be received without limitation. Liquids have no boundaries and therefore must remain unbounded. Hence, there is no doubt that problems arise whenever we try to confine the spirit and its movement because they are inherently all-encompassing.
Those who approach their studies and work with excessive pedantry and always dissect them into the smallest possible parts are wasting their own lives. Alas, those unfortunate souls unknowingly waste them Own life! It seems that Pythagoras was right when he gave the instruction: “Be careful not to lock yourself in a small space”. There is nothing more spacious than the sky, nor anything richer in life. On the contrary, Earth is the place of the greatest constraint and therefore has the most limited life in the universe. Finally, if we live in harmony with the sky and its cycles, the more we absorb it, the more fully and longer we will live. So, friends, live far from constraints, live happily! The sky created you out of its own joy. The sky announces this joy with a smile, in expansion, in movement and splendor, as if dancing with joy. The sky will protect you in your joy. Therefore, live happily every day in the present. Because caring about current problems steals the present and robs the future before it happens. Worrying about the future quickly brings us back to the past.
Therefore, I urge you again, live happily. Destiny will allow you as long as you live free of worries. But in order to truly live carefree, don’t worry even Neither how to escape from worries in the best way because that way you will always be disturbed and concerned. This worry consumes the hearts of mortals, poor wretches, and all other worries! So do not let worries disturb you, but make sure that you are free from worry, but even then, do it without disturbance, of course, as long as it is right and appropriate for you.
Friends, I am telling you all of this not so much as a priest, but as a doctor. Because without such a life, all remedies for prolonging life mean nothing.
Careggi, September 15, 1489.
Written by: Marsilio Ficino
1 In Plato’s Parmenides (128 c), Socrates is presented with a hunting comparison: focused like a Spartan dog following a trail.
2 Plato, Republic, II, 376, “Your dog is a true philosopher.”
3 Giorgio Benigno Salvia Juraj Dragišić, OP. P., served as the administrator of the Franciscan institution at the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Florence.