3

to the sea, unless it were bound by the command of the creator? And that this is true, Sesostris the Egyptian and Darius the Mede convinced us by their deeds. For when they attempted to join the Egyptian and Indian seas, they were unable. For Egypt is lower than the Red Sea. He therefore commanded them to be gathered into one gathering, and that another sea should not be made from this, but that it should remain in the first collection. For there were many ................... waters ............. hollows ............ 713 collection and the ravines. And the phrase, "and the gatherings of the waters He called Seas," signifies the gulfs left behind according to their own shape by the surrounding land; such as the northern sea, the southern sea, the eastern, the western seas, and their particular names, Pontus, Aegean, Ionian, Sardinian, Sicilian, Tyrrhenian. Not just any collections of waters ended up in one sea, or gathering, but the greatest and most prominent ones; for one must not understand this to include marshy and lake waters. For just as fire is both fragmented into small parts and poured out all at once by the air, so also in the case of water, even if there are some small, separate gatherings, there is yet one collection which separates the whole element from the rest. For the water of the sea is the source of all moisture upon the earth, and all the earth is undermined, and water is distributed through unseen channels, as certain cavernous places on the mainland show. For the flowing sea, running through narrow places, whenever it is left behind in winding and steep outlets, being pushed by the force of the earth's breath, breaks through the surface, and having come forth to the outside, becomes drinkable, having been changed to sweetness by filtration. Again, whenever it is left behind in hot places near the outlet, being drawn by the breath for the same reason, it becomes boiling. This has also been established as the source of the waters of the air; for its waters, being drawn up through clouds, and warmed by the sun's ray, and cooled by the cloud's shadow, and cleared by the height itself, are sweetened, and drizzle upon the mainland. And on the same day God commanded the earth to bring forth the green herb; Sowing seed according to its kind, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, whose seed is in itself. And even now the order of things that grow bears witness to the first arrangement. For the sprout precedes every herb and every grass; for when the earth has moisture and warmth in due measure, the seed is cast into it, and becomes loose and multi-grained, and beginning from the earth around it, it draws to itself its own and kindred elements, and being nourished, it spreads further; so that it takes root downward, and shoots up upward, and puts forth stalks equal in number to the roots. And as the sprout is continually warmed, the moisture, drawn through the roots, is drawn together with the nourishment of the earth by the heat; and this is divided into the stalk, and the husk, and the sheaths of the grain, and into the grain itself, and the awns. And the stalk of the grain is girded with joints, so that, like certain ligaments, they may bear the weight of the ears of corn. The stalk is also hollow, so that it may become a sheath for the grain, so that it is not easily plundered by seed-gatherers. And it has put forth the awns instead of barbs, in order to ward off the damage from small animals. But the oat stands entirely empty, since it is not weighed down at its head. And if 716 the poisonous things sprouted with the nutritious, such as hellebore, and aconite, and mandrake, and the juice of the poppy, none of these has been received for use in vain. Starlings feed on hemlock because of the constitution of their bodies; for having narrow passages to the heart, they manage to expel what is swallowed; and quails eat hellebore, and do not suffer harm, a peculiarity

3

πελάγει, εἰ μὴ ὑπῆρχε τῷ προστάγματι τοῦ κτίσαντος πεπεδημένη; Ὅτι δὲ ἀληθὲς τοῦτο ἔργῳ ἡμᾶς ἔπεισαν Σέσωστρις ὁ Αἰγύπτιος καὶ ∆αρεῖος ὁ Μῆδος. Τὸ γὰρ Αἰγύπτιον καὶ τὸ Ἰνδικὸν ἐπιχειρήσαντες συνάψαι πέλαγος, οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν. Οὕτως ὑπάρχει κοιλοτέρα τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης ἡ Αἴγυπτος. Προσέταξεν οὖν συναχθῆναι εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν, καὶ μὴ ἀπὸ ταύτης ἄλλην γενέσθαι θάλασσαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ πρώτῃ ἀπομεῖναι συλλογῇ. Πολλὰ γὰρ ἦν ................... ὕδατα ............. κοιλότητες ............ 713 συλλογὴν καὶ αἱ φάραγγες. Τὸ δὲ, καὶ τὰ συστήματα τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκάλεσε θαλάσσας, τοὺς κόλπους σημαίνει τοὺς κατὰ τὸ ἴδιον σχῆμα ὑπὸ τῆς περικειμένης γῆς ἀπολειφθέντας· οἷον θάλασσα βόρειος, θάλασσα νότιος, ἑῴα, ἑσπέρια πελάγη, καὶ τούτων ὀνόματα ἰδιάζοντα, Πόντος Αἰγαῖος, Ἰώνιος, Σαρδωνικὸν, Σικελικὸν, Τυῤῥήνιον. Οὐ τὰ τυχόντα δὲ τῶν ὑδάτων ἀθροίσματα εἰς μίαν κατέληξε θάλασσαν, ἤτοι σύστασιν, ἀλλὰ τὰ μέγιστα καὶ ἐξέχοντα· οὐ γὰρ καὶ τὰ τελματιαῖα καὶ λίμνια χρὴ νοεῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ καὶ εἰς μικρὰ κατακεκερματισμένον ἐστὶ καὶ ἀθρόον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος κέχυται, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος, εἰ καὶ μικραί τινές εἰσι διῃρημέναι συστάσεις, ἀλλὰ μία γε ἐστὶ συναγωγὴ, ἡ τὸ ὅλον στοιχεῖον τῶν λοιπῶν ἀποκρίνουσα. Πηγὴ γάρ ἐστι τῆς περὶ γῆν ἁπάσης νοτίδος τὸ τῆς θαλάσσης ὕδωρ, καὶ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ ὑπόνομός ἐστι, καὶ διὰ πόρων ἀφανῶν διαδίδοται, καθὼς δηλοῦσι τόποι τινὲς τῆς ἠπείρου ὕπαντροι. Ἡ γὰρ ῥοώδης θάλασσα διὰ τόπων στενῶν διατρέχουσα, ἐπειδὰν σκολιαῖς καὶ ὀρθίοις ἐξόδοις ἐναπολειφθῇ, ὠθουμένη τῇ βίᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς γῆς ἀποῤῥήσσει τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἔξω προελθοῦσα, γίνεται πότιμος ἐκ τῆς διηθήσεως μεταβληθεῖσα εἰς γλυκύτητα. Πάλιν δὲ ἐπειδὰν θερμοῖς τόποις ἐναπολειφθῇ πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον, τῇ αὐτῇ αἰτίᾳ ἑλκομένη ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ζέουσα γίνεται. Αὕτη καὶ τῶν ἀερίων ὑδάτων πηγὴ καθέστηκε· διὰ νεφῶν γὰρ ἀνελκόμενα αὐτῆς τὰ ὕδατα, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος θαλπόμενα, καὶ τῇ σκιᾷ τοῦ νέφους καταψυχθέντα, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὕψους αἰθριασθέντα γλυκαίνεται, καὶ καταψεκάζει τὴν ἤπειρον. Τῇ δ' αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ βλαστῆσαι βοτάνην χόρτου τὴν γῆν ὁ Θεὸς προσέταξεν· Σπεῖρον σπέρμα κατὰ γένος, καὶ ξύλον κάρπιμον ποιοῦν καρπὸν, οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ. Καὶ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἡ τάξις τῶν φυομένων μαρτυρεῖ τῇ πρώτῃ διακοσμήσει. Ἡ γὰρ βλάστησις καθηγεῖται πάσης βοτάνης, καὶ πάσης πόας· νοτίδας γὰρ συμμέτρως καὶ θερμὴν ἐχούσης τῆς γῆς, τὸ σπέρμα εἰς αὐτὴν καταβάλλεται, καὶ γίνεται χαῦνον καὶ πολύσπορον, καὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸ γῆς ἀρξάμενον πρὸς αὐτὸ ἐπισπᾶται τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ σύμφυλα, καὶ πιαινόμενον ἐπὶ πλεῖον πλατύνεται· ὥστε ῥιζοῦσθαι μὲν εἰς τὸ κάτω, προκύπτειν δὲ εἰς τὸ ἄνω, καὶ ἰσαρίθμους ταῖς ῥίζαις τοὺς καλάμους προβάλλεσθαι. Θαλπομένου δὲ ἀεὶ τοῦ βλαστήματος, συρομένη διὰ τῶν ῥιζῶν ἡ νοτὶς, ὑπὸ τῆς θέρμης συνεπάγεται τῆς γῆς τὸ τρόφιμον· καὶ καταμερίζεται τοῦτο εἰς καλάμην, καὶ φλοιὸν, καὶ τὰς θήκας τοῦ σίτου, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν σῖτον, καὶ τοὺς ἀνθέρικας. Ἡ δὲ καλάμη τοῦ σίτου κονδύλοις διαζώννυται, ἵν' ὡς σύνδεσμοί τινες τῶν σταχύων τὸ βάρος φέρωσιν. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἡ καλάμη διάκενος, ὅπως θήκη τοῦ κόκκου γένηται, πρὸς τὸ μὴ τοῖς σπερμολόγοις ὑπάρχειν εὐδιάρπαστον. Τοὺς δὲ ἀνθέρικας ἀντὶ ἀκίδων προβέβληται, ἵνα τῶν μικρῶν ζώων τὰς βλάβας εἴργωσιν. Ὁ δὲ βρόμος δι' ὅλου κενὸς καθέστηκεν, ἐπειδὴ τὴν κεφαλὴν οὐ βαρύνεται. Καὶ εἰ 716 συνεβλάστησε τοῖς τροφίμοις τὰ δηλητήρια, οἷον ἐλλέβορος, καὶ ἀκόνιτον, καὶ μανδραγόρας, καὶ τῆς μήκωνος ὁ ὀπὸς, οὐδὲν τούτων εἰς χρῆσιν ἀργὸν παρείληπται. Τὸ μὲν κώνιον οἱ ψᾶρες βόσκονται διὰ τὴν κατασκευὴν τοῦ σώματος· λεπτοὺς γὰρ ἔχοντες τοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν πόρους, ἀποπέμψαι τὸ καταποθὲν φθάνουσι· τὸν δὲ ἐλλέβορον ἐσθίουσιν ὄρτυγες, καὶ οὐχ ὑφίστανται βλάβην, ἰδιότητα