COMMENTARY

BY MARSILIO FICINO OF FLORENCE,

upon the banquet of love of the

most divine Plato.

Chapter I.

An ornamental woodcut initial 'P' features a winged putto figure amidst foliage.

PLATO, the father of philosophers, being in the eighty-first year of his life, died on the seventh of October, the day on which he was born, having risen from the table at a banquet. Because this banquet contained both the birth and the annual deeds of Plato, the ancient Platonists, up to the age of Plotinus and Porphyry, renewed it every year. After Porphyry, it was neglected for two hundred years. But in our times, the Magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici, wishing to renew it, had Francesco Bandini act as his master of the house, and with royal preparation at Careggi, he received nine most learned Platonists. Among them were Antonio Agli, Bishop of Fiesole; Ficino, the physician; Cristoforo Landini, the poet; Bernardo Nutio, the orator; Tomaso Benci; and Giovanni Cavalcanti, our very dear friend, who, for the beauty of both his soul and body, was called the Prince of the Banquet. Also present were the two Marsupinis, that is, Cristoforo and Carlo, sons of Carlo the poet. Finally, Bandini wished that I, too, should be there as the ninth, so that with Marsilio Ficino added, the number of the Muses might be made perfect. At the end