Zoroaster and the mistress of life

Use in the book

At V.14.6 Ficino attributes to Zoroaster a line he treats as summing up the preceding argument. Its authority reinforces the claim that soul departs at bodily death rather than perishes. He then expands the sense: soul remains immortal because life follows it as light follows the sun and streaming hair a comet.

The image complements the two permissible accounts in V.14.3. Whether soul is life itself or has life as its inseparable attendant, its essential relation to life differentiates it from a recipient that loses life. The quoted line therefore belongs within an argument already developed, not in place of the argument.

The next unit still gives the Strato/Epicurean objection. The quotation does not end debate by authority. The meaning of “does not receive death” must be clarified against the possibility that the soul simply disappears. The lexicon’s attribution is consequently precise: this is a Greek line Ficino assigns to Zoroaster, printed and glossed in the supplied edition, rather than an independently authenticated historical utterance by Zoroaster.

Places to read

1. V.14.3, V.14.5, V.14.6The preferred life account, the fire distinction and the quoted summation.
2. V.14.7The subsequent objection shows that clarification remains necessary.

Translation in this edition

The apparatus says M1482 and G1559 have feminine δεσπότις and follows Ficino’s domina. The Greek quotation and its gloss are recorded separately in the Greek register. This is the only Greek-script quotation found in the Book V Latin units.

Zoroaster

Zoroaster. Printed forms: Zoroastris.

The authority to whom Ficino attributes the Greek statement about remaining immortal and ruling life. The quoted attribution is recorded without claiming independent authentication of a historical saying. References: V.14.6. See Zoroaster and the mistress of life.

Immortal and mistress of life (Greek quotation)

ἀθάνατός τε μένει καὶ ζωῆς δεσπότις ἐστί

Ficino’s Latin gloss is immortalis manet ac vitae domina est. The supplied English renders it “It remains immortal and is mistress of life.”

Ficino attributes this line to Zoroaster and takes it to summarize soul’s essential possession of life. The feminine δεσπότις agrees with domina; life follows soul as light the sun and hair the comet. The next unit still raises the Epicurean disappearance objection, so this authority does not replace the argument.

ἀθάνατός: Immortal or deathless; the final acute in this printed context reflects the following enclitic. τε: Connective particle linking the first predicate with the following καί. μένει: Remains or abides, stressing continued rather than momentary possession. καὶ: And, joining immortality with mistresshood of life. ζωῆς: Of life, the genitive dependent on mistress. δεσπότις: Mistress, a feminine noun for the ruling source of life. ἐστί: Is, linking the subject to mistress of life.

The apparatus states that M1482 and G1559 read feminine δεσπότις. The supplied normalized quotation is reported; no independent ancient-source authentication is claimed.

Place. V.14.6. See Zoroaster and the mistress of life.

Zoroaster (authorities and interlocutors)

Zoroaster. The Greek expression describing soul as immortal and mistress of life supports the local discussion of life and death through Ficino’s own gloss. The attribution remains the supplied text’s attribution. Zoroaster also appears in the ancient theological sequence. References: V.14.6, VI.1.6. See Zoroaster and the mistress of life; Divine production and the third essence.