The essay presents a critical portrait of a celebrated Enlightenment writer as the emblematic voice of his nation and century, comparing him with Cicero and Aretino and tracing responses from contemporaries and later critics such as Lessing, Byron, Oehlenschläger, and Grundtvig. It examines his legal and social position, anonymous and polemical methods, and wide-ranging output—satire, drama, history, and popular science—described as an orchestral whole. The author assesses the subject's engagement with natural science, poetic gifts, and relation to religious reformers and literary figures like Luther and Faust.