İnsanın Onuru Üzerine Söylev

Who would not admire this chameleon of ours? Or who could altogether admire anything else more? Not without reason did Asclepius of Athens say that man was symbolized in the mysteries by Proteus, because of his shifting nature and his power to transform himself. For it is not the bark that makes the plant, but its mindless and unfeeling nature; nor is it the hide that makes the beast of burden, but a brute and sensual soul; nor is it the circular body that makes the heavens, but right reason; nor is it the separation from the body, but spiritual intelligence that makes the angel. Since we are born with this condition, that we may be whatever we want to be, we must take the greatest care that it not be said of us that, while we were in a position of honor, we did not realize we had become like brutes and senseless beasts of burden. Let us instead remember the saying of Asaph the prophet: Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the most High, lest by abusing the most indulgent generosity of the Father, the free choice He gave us, we make that choice harmful instead of a means of salvation. Let a certain sacred ambition invade our souls, so that, not content with mediocrity, we may pant after the highest things and strive with all our might to attain them.