A fable about man : Juan Luis vives and his affirmative anthropology

The main aim of the paper is to present, in the form of transcription and translation from Latin, a fable written by a Spanish humanist, Juan Luis Vives (1492-1540), and addressed to his disciple, Antoon van Bergen, a young Belgian nobleman. Drawing much inspiration from both the classical (Plato, Plotinus, Cicero, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius) and early modern authors (Fazio, Pico della Mirandola, Manetti), Vives rewrites the most important concepts of the Renaissance anthropology (the dualism of human nature, the dignity of man, the immortality of the human soul, the desire of knowledge, the excellence of mimetic art, and good fame). Therefore, he creates in mythological settings a fable about an actor on the stage in the great theatre of the world. The narrative reveals the author’s familiarity with contemporary philosophy, his taste for literary refinement, and his capability to use rhetorical strategies and devices. Vives elaborates in an allegorical framework Pico’s idea of the dignity of man sharing with God alone the ability to be potentially all things. As the son of Jupiter he was born to imitate upon the stage the inferior (the plants and animals) and superior forms of life (the Olympian gods and Jupiter himself ). His Protean activity is the ability to become another; the perfect performance of an actor who transforms himself into the person of Jupiter, unlocking for the artist, the gates of Olympus. The allegorical lesson of the story is simple: man becomes god due to his similarity to the Father and the excellence of imitation. Thus, the fable appears to be in praise of human greatness, but at the same time it emphasizes the divine power of mimetic art. The affirmative anthropology sees the discourse concentrated, though uncritically, only on the dignity and excellence of human nature.