FICINUS, MARSILIUS (MARSMIO FICINO): Italian scholar and Platonic philosopher; b. at Florence Oct. 19, 1433; d. at Careggi (3 m. n. of Florence) Oct. 1, 1499. He was the son of a physician of Cosmo de' Medici and had the patronage of the Medici's during three generations. He studied under Gemistos Plethon (q.v.), enjoyed the intercourse of the leaders of the Renaissance, became a teacher of philosophy and the head of the Platonic Academy established in Florence by Cosmo de' Medici, and numbered among his pupils such men as Pico della Mirandola, Reuchlin, and Sixtus IV. Convinced of the essential identity of Platonic philosophy and religion, since the truth and wisdom sought by the philosopher are only the truth and wisdom of God, he took orders in 1473, preached in Florence, and was promoted to a canonry in the cathedral. Through his Latin translations from Plato and the Neoplatonistd, Plotinus, Jamblichus, and Proclus, he gave a tremendous impetus to Platonic studies in Italy, and thus influenced greatly the development of European philosophy. His most important original work is, Theologia Platonica de animmurn immortalitate (Florence, 1482). The first complete edition of his works was published at Basel in two volumes.

Bibliography: J. G. Schellhorn, Ds vita, moribue cc scrip as Marsilii Picini, in vol. i. of Amanitatss, Leipsic, 1730; K. Sieveking, Geschichte der platonischen Akademis au Florenz, Göttingen, 1812; Archiroio storico Italiano, 1859 (by L. Galeotti) and 1865 (by A. Conti).

FICKER, PAUL GERHARD: German Protestant; b. at Thonberg, a suburb of Leipsic, Feb. 8, 1865. He studied at the University of Leipsic (1884-89; Ph.D., 1889), the theological seminary of St. Pauli in the same city (1887,89), and the German Archeological Institute, Rome (1889-90). After being assistant pastor and pastor at Sohland-ander-Spree, in 1892, he became privat-docent at Halle in 1893. From 1903 to 1906 he was associate professor of church history at that university, and since 1906 has been full professor at Kiel. In 1900-01 he made an archeological tour of Italy, Tunis, Spain, and France. He belongs to the historical school and has written Der Milralis des Sicardus nach seiner Bedeutung Nr die Ikonographie des Mittelalters (Leipsic, 1889); Studien zur Hippolytfrage (1893); Studien zu Vigilius von Thapsus (1897); Das ausgehende Mittelalter and rein Verhdltnis zur Reformation (1903); Die Petrusakten, Beiträge zu ihrem Veratandnis (1903); Bonifatius, der "Apostel der Deutschen" (1905 ); and Amphilohiana, part i. (1906), besides contributing a translation of the Acts of Peter to Hennecke's Neutestamentliche Apokryphen (Tübingen, 1904).