On the Nobility and Excellence of the Female Sex

OF THE NOBILITY AND EXCELLENCE

...confirm, as does the custom of all nations. This rule is most strictly observed not only among humans, but in evaluating all animals and even inanimate things: that the more noble their place of origin, the more well-born they are considered to be. For this reason, Isaac instructed his son Jacob not to take a wife from the land of Canaan, but from Mesopotamia in Syria, which was of a better condition Agrippa alludes to the biblical idea that the "quality" of a land reflects on the quality of its inhabitants.. Not unlike this is the account found in John John 1 where Philip says: "We have found Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth," and Nathanael says to him, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Now let us proceed to other matters: Woman excels man in the material of her creation, Genesis 2 because she was not created from some inanimate thing or from vile mud original: "vili luto." In the Renaissance, the "slime of the earth" used to create Adam was often contrasted with the "refined" flesh used to create Eve., as man was, but from purified, life-giving, and animate matter—possessing a soul that participates in the divine, rational mind. To this we may add that man was made by God from the earth, which by its own nature—and with the cooperation of celestial influence—produces living creatures of every kind.

Woman, however, was created by God alone, above all celestial influence and the readiness of nature, without any cooperating power. She was made consistent, whole, and perfect in all things, while man, in the meantime, suffered the loss of a single rib from which the woman was formed—namely, Eve from the sleeping Adam. He slept so deeply that he did not even feel the rib being plucked away, which God took from the man and gave to the woman. Thus, man is a work of nature, but woman is the handiwork of God original: "Vir itaq; naturæ opus, mulier opificiū dei." Agrippa makes a sharp theological distinction here: man is a biological product of the earth, but woman is a direct, artistic creation of the Divine.. Therefore, woman is generally more capable than man of receiving divine splendor, and is often full of it—a fact which even now can easily be seen from her miraculous purity and beauty. For since beauty itself is nothing...