Asclepius

[to] the gods and demons who are joined to them. But those who are content in the middle of their kind, and the remaining species of all, will be similar to those to whom they have joined themselves by the species of their kind. Because of this, O Asclepius, man is a great miracle, an animal to be adored and honored. This truly passes into the nature of God, because he himself is God. He knows the kind of demons, as if he knows that he himself was born with them. This part of human nature he despises in himself, relying on the divinity of the other part. And because the nature of humans is shared with the fortunate, and joined to the gods by kinship of divinity, he despises the part of himself which is earthly; he binds all other things, by which he knows himself to be necessary by celestial disposition, with the servant bond of charity. He looks up at the sky. He is thus placed in a more fortunate place of the middle, that he may love the things which are below him, and himself be loved by the superior ones. He is mixed with the elements in velocity; with the sharpness of his mind, he descends into the depths of the sea. All things shine to him. Heaven does not seem the highest; as if in the nearest [place], he perceives it with the sagacity of his mind. The intention of his mind does not confuse the darkness of the air for him. The density of the earth does not hinder his works. The deep altitude of the water does not blunt his gaze; all things are the same, and he himself is the same. Of all kinds, which are animals, he has roots reaching from above to below. animals Animals grow roots from the lowest to the highest. Some are nourished by superior elements, others by inferior ones. But the nourishment is twofold, of the soul and of the body, of which animals consist. The soul of the world is nourished in eternal agitation; bodies grow from the nourishment of the lower world from water and earth. All things are also full of spirit, mixed with all things, it vivifies. With sense added to human intelligence, which because it is the only part [granted] to man