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higher realms, having desired to be like the Most High. This can be confirmed by the well-known story of Camillus, who was censured for triumphing with white horses, as he sought by this means to be like the gods—for only the gods were traditionally carried by white horses. We also read in Hermes Trismegistus that man is to be admired not only because he was fashioned in the likeness of God and is his own master, but also because he possesses the power to transform himself into any form he chooses, whereas other animals are allotted fixed forms. For this reason, we should not wonder at Plato, who said in the *Sophist*: "To me, no man seems a God, but rather someone divine." Nonetheless, in ancient times, men were called gods, either due to a miracle of virtue, out of flattery for their power, or because of the benefits they bestowed upon humanity. For just reasons, therefore, we can designate man a god on earth, a familiar of the heavens, a master of the lower worlds, a messenger of God, and a divine animal. Thus, Zoroaster, contemplating man, exclaimed: "O man, masterpiece of a most daring nature!" Plato also called man a "divine wonder"—that is, a miracle of miracles.

It must now be noted that man was gifted by God not only with reason but also with hands as aids for accomplishing his tasks. Guided by reason, he discovers the necessities of life and assigns names to these discoveries according to their nature; thus, Ovid sang with good reason: "Names often correspond to their objects."

Next, he fashions letters and characters, discovers the means of measuring the sea and the land, calculates the distances of the stars, and notes the changing seasons, as well as the rising and setting of the stars and their respective powers; finally, he devises every kind of art. Therefore, it was not without cause that Juvenal spoke thus of men: "And therefore we alone have been granted a venerable spirit, capable of divine things, and fit for practicing and grasping the arts."

Thus, the gifts that belong solely to the soul are carried out by the intellect and the mind, but the operations that cannot be completed without the service of the body are afterwards brought to perfection by the hands. From this, we now understand that man was not created defenseless by nature, as many believe. Instead, he is armed with a triple protection denied to other animals: reason for invention, speech for assistance, and hands for perfection. Indeed, the hands carry out commands, and those commands, in turn, obey reason. Yet, we should not claim that man is the wisest animal because of his hands; rather, he obtained hands because he is the wisest of all living creatures. For he who is wisest can employ the greatest number of instruments, and the hand, according to Aristotle, is called the "instrument of instruments." In turn, we can declare that reason is the "art of arts"; for just as the hand excels other instruments in nobility, so reason surpasses other arts in excellence. We must conclude, then, that while other animals were gifted by nature with their own weapons, men were distinguished by hands in place of all weapons, using them as the noblest of organs in times of both war and peace.

Finally, we can argue for man's dignity and excellence from his creation. Gregory of Nyssa asserted that one should not think man is lowly because he was created last by God; rather, this order of creation established him as the king of all things. This would not have happened if he had been fashioned before the others, for man was created at the very moment he was to be decorated with royal prerogative. It was not without reason, then, that the Psalmist proclaimed: "You have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of your hands." Therefore, whoever enjoys the name of "man" must preserve this title through the practice of virtue. As Basil of Seleucia wrote, the entire life of man is a wrestling school of the virtues; and thus, he who does not exercise himself in this divine arena does not truly seem to live.