Plusieurs advis et conseils traduits d'italien en français par Antoine de Laval. Francesco Guicciardini. Ed. Maria Elena Severini. Textes de la Renaissance 208. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2017. 186 pp. €35.
states that consuetudo is not fixed but develops: “non . . . necessitate constare sed . . . provenire” becomes “habit is established not by . . . necessity but comes about.” “Is established” misses the point, however; “consists of” would be correct. On pages 266–67, “libentius” is rendered as “more freely” instead of “preferably” or “prefers to.” In book 4, Ficino argues against the transmigration of souls, saying (300–02) it is not the case that bad people have no human mind—which makes it so that their souls can move into animal bodies—they are simply distracted by senses and fancies: “Non enim rationis acumen otium penitus agit in pravis, immo negotiatur assidue, quamvis circa spectacula sensus et imaginationis obiecta vel comparand[a] vel devitanda plurimum diversetur.” The translation reads, “For among wicked people the acuity of reason never acts quietly within. On the contrary it is constantly involved in business, as though going far out of its way to either attain or evade the sights of sense and the objects of imagination.” The segments in italics would be better phrased as “does not idle wholly” and “albeit distracted in order to.” These are some of the errors. One may ask whether it helps the reader to translate Latin simpliciter consistently with “simpliciter” (passim), or adventitius with “adventitious” (18–19). But to see influxus translated as “emanation[s]” (32–33, 66–67, 72–73) is surprising, especially in a Neoplatonic context. Ficino argues about astrology, and “influxus” means the influence of stars on earthly bodies—“influence” being the term of art. “Emanation” does not belong to astrology; rather, it denotes the “outflow” of the lower hypostases from the One, a staple of Neoplatonic metaphysics. Indeed, the translator uses the terms “emanative continuity” and “emanate” in this metaphysical meaning (xxx, xxxvii, clxii). A problem of interpretation arises on the very first pages: Ficino establishes the Platonist principle that in the eternal, being is act and act is being. The translation always renders “actio est esse” as “action is its being” (16–18, 17–19), leaving open to what “its” is referring. StephenGersh added an “Analytical Study” of over two hundred pages, which discusses the relation between Plotinus’s and Ficino’s thought. It is not an introduction for beginners, andwoulddeserve publication as a separatemonograph, followedby a separate review.