2 Ulisse Aldrovandi

# ON MAN. Chapter I. # EQUIVOCAL TERMS

The name "man," when uttered simply, designates a person integrated from a human body and a rational soul. In this sense, it encompasses not only the exceptionally learned but also those dwelling in the shadows of ignorance—infants and adults alike. Furthermore, we sometimes use "man" for one who has reached full physical growth, a definition that excludes boys and adolescents. Occasionally, the name denotes a person of supreme erudition, a usage that excludes the unlearned and the infant. Since the word *homo* is of common gender in Latin, it signifies not only the male but also the female—that is, a woman. This sense is quite familiar in the Holy Bible, where the word "man," when used in the singular, is most often used in a favorable sense; however, in the plural, it is often taken in the opposite way. Although we read in Matthew that an "enemy man" (meaning the Devil) sowed weeds, we maintain that this was due to the addition of that specific epithet.

Botanists call a certain herb—commonly known as the female Balsam—a "man," because the stalks of the plant grow so thick that they handsomely mimic a little man. Painters and sculptors also call a drawn or carved likeness of a human being a "man." According to Ficino’s interpretation of Plato, "man" expresses nothing other than the power of the soul situated in reason and sense, which ancient theologians called the soul. Hence, some have not undeservedly called the soul the "inner man" and the body the "outer man."

In their propositions, dialecticians categorize "man" as a "most specific species." Therefore, among them, an indefinite proposition where the minor term is the word "man" is reduced to a universal proposition. This is how the Apostle is to be understood when writing to the Corinthians: "But let a man examine himself," although sometimes the word can designate a specific individual. We find this meaning in the Sacred Scriptures: "There was no man to work the ground." Finally, if something is added to this word, it acquires various other meanings: for instance, one is called the "man of someone" if they are devoted to another's service. Thus, in the sacred pages, a "man of God" is explained by Oleaster as a Prophet, since prophets were bound to divine ministry. Saint Augustine, however, called the body the "worldly man." Ficino understood a "fiery man" to be a demon. To Paolo Scaligero, the "Great Man" signifies the world itself, just as, conversely, "man" is designated by the name of the "Small World."

Finally, chemists call a cucurbit with its alembic—the "vessel of the philosophers"—a "tall man" or a "helmeted man." Among them, metals are also called "men"; for this reason, in their books, men are sometimes said to be transmuted into demons, and demons into God. This occurs when "men" (meaning imperfect metals) are transformed into "demons" (silver) and finally into what they call "God" (gold). Similarly, the Greek word *anthropos* is used in various ways, much like *vir* among the Latins. Sometimes it is taken simply as "human being"; at other times, the word signifies a male, or a man as distinguished from a eunuch, or a human in the prime of life, or even a strenuous and brave man, or indeed a husband.