Even the editors were annoyed

“When Philosophers Rule” is a translation of Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino's commentaries on Plato's dialogues “Republic”, “Laws” and “Epinomis”. The two former are easily Plato's most controversial oeuvres (at least since Karl Popper's attack on the spell of Plato), while “Epinomis” (a sequel to “Laws”) is considered spurious by many modern scholars.

Despite this, I didn't find Ficino's summary and commentary particularly interesting. The Renaissance sage says relatively little about politics, instead concentrating on cosmology, spirituality, astrology and numerology. Even the translators were annoyed by the latter, excluding “Exposition on Nuptial Number” from this collection! Readers who absolutely want to read this section of Ficino's commentary on “Republic” are instead directed to Michael J B Allen's study “Nuptial Arithmetic”. Another problem with the book is that it lacks context. An introduction to Ficino's philosophy and/or relevant sections thereof would have helped considerably.

Perhaps a hard line admirer of Marsilius Ficinus will find “When Philosophers Rule” to his liking, but personally, I will probably pursue other topics…