ABSTRACT
The epitome which Ficino prepared for his Latin rendering of the dialogue first appeared along with that rendering in the 1484 editio princeps of his Platonis Opera omnia; and was then published in the subsequent Plato editions. It reappeared as a free-standing epitome without the translation in Ficino's own Opera omnia of 1561, 1576, and 1641, along with all his other epitomes and commentary materials on Plato, Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Psellus, and so on. The apex of the speculative hierarchy of learned disciplines that the Epinomis goes on to explore is arithmetic, which the dialogue at 976e declares is “the science which gave number to the whole race of mortals”. Despite this obvious fascination with the Epinomis' elaboration of Platonic ratio and harmony theory and its ramifications, material which he interpreted in light of the Timaeus, what was most notable about Plato's last dialogue in Ficino's Christian Platonic eyes was a reference which is a mere passing mention.
