Michael Allen gave us in 1981 the first critical edition and translation of a commentary by the enormously influential Florentine Neoplatonist, Marsilio Ficino (1439-1499), on the Phaedrus's memorable if complex myth of man's soul as a winged charioteer, Now he uses this commentary as a springboard for an extended study of many aspects of Ficino's philosophy, poetics and mythology. Though his specific aim has been to deepen our understanding of Ficino's genius as a Platonic commentator, he has also succeeded in enhancing our appreciation of Ficino's ideas in general and of his independent relationship to the ancient Neoplatonic tradition in which as a scholar he was so thoroughly and luminously immersed.