...on the earth. Those things which were already dead, and others half-alive, are immediately recalled to life and beauty. Hence, Mercury, as the messenger of the Sun, is said to wake the sleepers with a certain staff. original: "caduceo"; the caduceus is the winged staff entwined with two serpents carried by Mercury (Hermes), used in mythology to induce or dispel sleep and lead souls. And Plato describes a certain resurrection, somewhat similar to this, in his book On Kingship. original: "libro de regno"; Ficino likely refers to Plato’s Politicus (The Statesman), where a myth describes the universe reversing its rotation, causing the old to become young again—a "resurrection" of sorts.

The Sun was created first, and in the center of the heavens. Chapter 10.

¶ Among these matters, it is asked what God created first of all. Moses answers: light. A reference to Genesis 1:3: "Let there be light." And rightly so; for from that divine light, which is more than intelligible, there immediately flows a light of all things most similar to God. Indeed, "intelligible light" intelligible light (lux intelligibilis): in Neoplatonic philosophy, this is the light of pure reason or divine truth that illuminates the mind, rather than the eyes exists in the world above us in a non-corporeal state—that is, the purest intellect. But "sensible light" exists in the corporeal world—that is, the solar light itself.

But perhaps this light was first in its own degree, as on the first day: held simply as a substance, so that it might shine within and illuminate from without. Second, however, it was so that it might be powerful with a warming virtue, both to be strong in itself and to give life to all other things. Third, again, so that by its own efficacy and the command of God...