A Latin inscription from the walls of the Villa Careggi in Florence, as cited in Raymond Marcel’s Marsile Ficin (pg.293). I can’t find a picture of either this or the Democritus and Heraclitus fresco located nearby.
A bono in bonum omnia diriguntur
Laetus inpraesens.
Neque censum existimes, neque appetas dignitatem.
Fuge excessum, fuge negotia.
Laetus impraesens.
Extracts 
Hello 🙂
I apologize for this cavalier approach, but you could do me a valuable service !
I saw that you had quoted Raymond Marcel’s “Marsile Ficin”: I therefore deduce that you must have read it. Perhaps you even have a copy ! If that were the case and if you would like to, you could save me because, unfortunately, this book is not available anywhere in the space I occupy and in the time I have left before the date when I have to return a work on Ficin !
My request is the following : can you please tell me more about this sentence (“A bona in bonum omnia diriguntur”) and, particularly, about it presence on the walls of the Villa Careggi ? Maybe you even can send me a picture of this page ?
Yours sincerely, fellow philosopher !
PS: Sorry for my bad english… I’m french 😥
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Always happy to help and your english is far better than my french would be. I added above a photo of the page with the quotation (I used the version in the first footnote of 293). It’s from a longer chapter (~50 pages) titled Platon a Careggi but seemed – from a quick glance – the only relevant passage. The whole book should be available for digital loan here – https://archive.org/details/marsileficin14330000marc.
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Cher compagnon de philosophie,
I can’t believe that you have given me the most perfect help with such ease and speed. I want you to know that in this way, you have enabled me to enrich my commentary in a certain way : I am particularly grateful to you !
In this commentary (which deals with chapter 3 of the fourth discourse of De Amore written by Ficin), I compare the inscription “A bono in bonum” carved in the stone of Villa Careggi with the maxim “Gnỗthi seautόn” carved in the stone of the temple of Delphi, both of which invite us to know the soul of the world and our own soul ! Thanks to you, I now know that the Latin inscription present in Florence already imitated Plato’s usage: this beautiful detail counts for a lot!
Thanks again…
Amitiés
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