Thread by @djjrobichaud

Since it is #Epiphany2022 I'm sharing e a portion of my translation from the Latin of Marsilio Ficino's (1433-99) wonderful Epiphany sermon "On the Star of the Magi" (De stella magorum). 1/22

I discuss this sermon in great detail in a forthcoming article "The Star of the Magi or The Afterlife of Chaldean Angels in Iamblichus, Proclus, Psellos, Pletho, and Ficino." 2/22

Please keep an eye out for the journal volume in which it will appear. It is a special issue of Travaux et Mémoires 25/2 of the Association CHCByz, entitled "Inventer les anges de l'Antiquité à Byzance," edited by Delphine Lauritzen. 3/22

The volume includes ~30 articles by excellent scholars (Brisson, Caseau, Cheynet, Dosoo, Lidova, Mahe, Morrisson, Tardieu, Vinel, Vlad et al.), too many to list here (I'll try to post a full list when the journal is out), but two are on twitter @flauritzen and @RyanHaecker 4/22

Ficino, "On the Star of the Magi" (selection)
We think, therefore, that the comet was not natural, but divine, and that it was directed and illuminated from above by the angel Gabriel. For it was Gabriel who announced the birth of John, the precursor of Christ, to Zecharia, 5/22

it was Gabriel who announced Christ to Mary, and it was Gabriel who portended the place and birth of Christ to the pagans, and by means of the pagans he also convinced the Jews. 6/22

And under the form of the star he instructed those who were learned about stars, and by means of the light of the star, received from the Sun, he guided them to the Sun. 7/22

These astronomers brought gold to the king at his birth since they thought that he was solar, through aromatic frankincense they symbolized the grace of Venus, and through myrrh, which was without putrefaction, they portended his Jovial life. 8/22

Meanwhile, these offerings were also converted towards another mystery: for they aided his poverty with gold, they strengthened his delicate body with myrrh, and they perfumed his stable with frankincense. 9/22

They offered gold to a king, frankincense to a priest, and finally myrrh to a God. But it is probable that this comet was an angel, just as an angel under a human form guided the journey of Tobias, 10/22

so at that time an angel under the form of a star guided the journey of the astrologers. 11/22

For, as Moses the Egyptian, the most learned among the learned Hebrews attests, Abraham’s expert knowledge of the stars led him to be the first and only person in his age to understand that there is only one first cause of the heavens, and to adore it humbly, 12/22

and on account of which it came about that prophecy and the light of grace were granted to him by God. But let us return to the comet. 13/22

According to the Gospel of Luke, during this very night when Christ was born, an angel of the Lord illuminated all around the shepherds with light and announced to them the great joy, saying, “on this day the savior of the world is born.” 14/22

And he rightly said, “on this day” (hodie), as though he meant “this day” (hoc die), because, even though it happened to be the middle of the night, the light of the comet brought forth the day (diem) – hence the saying of David, “And night was illuminated as the day.” 15/22

Thereafter, the angel instantly led this comet towards the Orient to Persia, whence it would guide the magi to Christ – hence the saying of Isaiah, 16/22

“Arise, illuminate Jerusalem, because your light comes and the glory of the Lord arose above you etc.,” and “the gentes walk in your light.” 17/22

For when the Lord was born this light appeared around Jerusalem, then the pagan magi walked in this light, because just as this light first processed from Judea into the Orient, so in turn it reverted from the Orient into Judea, guiding the magi all the way there. 18/22

However, that this comet was the angel himself who proclaimed the great joy to the shepherds, we may conclude from the following reason, because the magi, when they saw such a star for a second time, celebrated with great joy, “exuberantly,” as it is said, 19/22

because, from the time when they first saw the star, they had celebrated with a great joy, just as the shepherds, but now they also celebrated “exuberantly,” because when you receive a good that you previously enjoyed but not for some time, it becomes most pleasing. 20/22

But the same angel who led the magi to Christ by means of visible light, next advised the minds of the sleeping magi, by means of hidden rays, not to return to Jerusalem, and warned Joseph to flee into Egypt with his child. 21/22

As Christ died, the angel, in the form of the Moon herself, at that moment, overcoming the power of nature, substituted the Moon, full with light, for the Sun, and converted midday into night, and at the birth of Christ, in the form of a comet, converted midnight into day. 22/22

#Epiphany #Ficino