Oration on the Dignity of Man

Enoch^8 is transformed into a divine angel, whom they call the "Messenger of the Lord of Hosts" original: "Mal'akh Adonay Shebaoth." In Jewish mystical tradition, Enoch was said to have been transformed into the archangel Metatron., while others are transformed into different deities. The Pythagoreans turn wicked men into animals, and if we are to believe Empedocles^9 A Greek Pre-Socratic philosopher who proposed that souls could be reincarnated into plants or animals based on their conduct., even into plants. Expressing this thought, Mohammed often repeated:

“He who departs from the divine law will become an animal, and quite deservedly so.”

And indeed, it is not the bark that constitutes the essence of a plant, but its unreasoning and unfeeling nature; it is not the hide that is the essence of a draft horse, but its dull and sensual soul; it is not the circular substance that constitutes the essence of the heavens, but right reason; and an angel is created not by his separation from a body, but by his spiritual intelligence.

If you see someone crawling on the ground on his belly, you see not a man, but a shrub; and if you see someone—like those under the spell of Calypso^10 A reference to the nymph in Homer’s Odyssey who kept Odysseus captive; here Pico uses her as a symbol of the sensory traps that strip a person of their humanity.—blinded by the empty mirages of fantasy and seized by the allurements of a slave to the senses, you see not a man, but an animal. And if you see a philosopher, discerning all things with right reason, respect him, for he is a heavenly being, not an earthly one. If, however, you see a pure contemplator, unaware of the flesh and immersed in the depths of the mind, then this is neither an earthly nor a heavenly being. This is something more sublime: a divine being, clothed in human flesh.

And who would not admire man, who in the sacred Hebrew and Christian scriptures is rightly called sometimes by the name of "all flesh," and sometimes "every creature," since he forms and transforms himself into any flesh and acquires the properties of any creation! Therefore, the Persian Evantes, in explaining the philosophy of the Chaldeans A term used in the Renaissance to refer to ancient Babylonian or Near Eastern sages and magicians., writes that man has no natural image of his own, but has many that come from without. Hence the expression of the Chaldeans: "Man is an animal of a diverse and multiform nature" original: "Hanarich tharah sharinas." Pico is likely quoting from the Chaldean Oracles or a related Hermetic source to emphasize human fluidity..

To what does this refer? To the fact that we should understand that, having been born—on the condition that we will be whatever we want to be—it is our most important duty to ensure that at least it is not said of us that when we were in honor, we could not be recognized because we had become like unreasoning animals. But it is better if it is said of us in the words of the prophet Asaph:

“You are gods and sons of the most high, all of you”^11 A quotation from Psalm 82:6, frequently used by Pico to justify the deification of the human soul through intellectual and spiritual striving..

We must not harm ourselves by abusing the most merciful kindness of the Father, instead of welcoming the free choice he has given us.

Let a holy ambition fill our souls so that we, not content with the mediocre, may passionately desire the highest, and also strive (when we can, if we will) for that which is granted to all men. Rejecting the earthly, disregarding the heavenly, and finally leaving behind everything that is in the world, let us hasten to the court original: "курию" (kuriyu/curia), referring to a celestial assembly or supreme council. located above the world, the one closest to the highest divinity.

There, as the mysteries relate, the first places are occupied by the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones The three highest orders of angels in the traditional Christian celestial hierarchy., unaware that we have already yielded to them and are seeking dignity and glory, dissatisfied with second places; and if we wish, we will be in no way inferior to them. But doing what, and how? Let us see what they do, what kind of life they live. And if we live so (and we can), we will be equal to them. The Seraphim burn with fire...