On the Nobility and Excellence of the Female Sex

ON THE NOBILITY AND PREEMINENCE

original: "Ore omnes versae in zephyrum stant rupibus altis / Exspectantque leves auras, et saepe sine ullis / Conjugiis vento gravidae." Agrippa quotes Virgil’s Georgics (3.273–275), which describes the legendary mares of Lusitania that were said to conceive by the wind—a classical parallel to his previous argument about conception without male seed.

Now what shall I say of speech, that divine gift by which alone we Pimander 12

greatly excel the beasts? Hermes Trismegistus A legendary Hellenistic figure associated with the Corpus Hermeticum, a series of texts on philosophy and magic; the "Pimander" is the first and most famous of these books. considers speech to be of the
same value as immortality. And Hesiod An early Greek poet, often cited alongside Homer as a foundational source for Greek mythology and ethics. calls it the Hesiod

best treasure of man. Is not a woman more eloquent in speech
than a man, more articulate and abundant? Is it not true that as many of
us as are human, we first learned to speak only from our mothers or
our nurses? Indeed, nature itself, the architect of things A common Renaissance philosophical phrase for God or the creative force of the universe.,
looking sagaciously upon this human race, has so gifted
the female sex that a mute woman is hardly ever found.
It is truly a beautiful and laudable thing to excel men in that very
quality by which humans most especially surpass the other animals.
But let us return from profane In this context, "profane" refers to secular or pagan classical literature (like Virgil and Hesiod), as opposed to "sacred" Scripture. to sacred letters, as if by postliminy original: "postliminio." A Roman legal term for the right of a person returning from captivity to regain their former status; here used metaphorically to mean returning to the "homeland" of the Bible.,
and let us begin the matter from the very fountains of religion. We
know, first of all, that God undoubtedly blessed man for the sake of
the woman; which blessing the man, as one unworthy, did not
deserve to have until the woman had been created. With which the
proverb of Solomon agrees: "He who finds a good Proverbs 18

woman, finds a good thing, and draws a blessing from the Lord." And
that of Ecclesiasticus Also known as the Wisdom of Sirach, a book of the Biblical Apocrypha/Deuterocanon.: "Blessed is the husband of a good woman, the Ecclesiasticus 26

number of his years is doubled." And no man can be compared in
dignity to him who has been worthy of having a good woman.
For as Ecclesiasticus says: "A good woman is a grace Ecclesiasticus 26

above every grace." And therefore Solomon in the Proverbs Proverbs 12

calls her the crown of the man. And Paul, the glory of the man: 1 Corinthians 11

moreover, "glory" is defined as the consummation and perfection of a thing.