Ficino rebutted the suggestion that he was encouraging the revival of classical paganism. He claimed that his purpose in publicising the thought of the ancients was to serve the cause of true religion. Although precise anticipation of Christian doctrine was not to be expected from the pagans, nevertheless the most acute thinkers among them undertood the truth. Ficino's central doctrine is expressed as follows: «And so through the wish of divine providence to attract to itself in wondrous fashion all men in accordance with their intellectual ability, it came about that a religious philosophy arose long ago among the Persians thanks to Zoroaster and among the Egyptians thanks to Mercury [Hermes Trimegisto], without any discrepancy between the two. The doctrine was then sustained among the Thracians under Orpheus and Aglaophemus. It soon flourished also through Pythagoras among the Greeks and Italians. But it was finally consummated at Athens by the divine Plato.»
N.G. Wilson. From Byzantium to Italy. Duckworth (1992)
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