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supposing fictitious things according to reason; nor will he demand from us an account, on what the nature of the waters was established. For by what reasoning they suspend the earth, being heavier than the water, drawing it from the middle of the extremities, by the same, I suppose, they will altogether concede that that immense water remains motionless around the earth, both because of its natural downward tendency and because of its equilibrium from all sides. Therefore an immense nature of water was poured around the earth, not having proportion to it, but exceeding it by a multiple, as the great Artisan from the beginning foresaw the future, and arranged the first things for the sake of the need that would follow. What then was the need for the water to exceed by an unspeakable amount? Since the substance of fire is necessary for the universe, not only for the economy of terrestrial things, but also for the completion of the whole. For the whole would have been mutilated, lacking one of the greatest and most opportune of all. But these are opposite to each other, and one is destructive of the other: fire of water, when it prevails in power; water of fire, when it exceeds in quantity. But it was necessary neither for there to be a conflict against each other, nor for an occasion to be given to the universe for dissolution in the complete extinction of the one. So great a nature of moisture did he who governs all things lay aside beforehand, so that being consumed little by little by the power of fire, it might last until the appointed limits of the world's constitution. He therefore who arranged all things by weight and measure (for to him, according to Job, even the drops of rain are numbered) knew how much time he had appointed for the world for its duration, and how much expense must be set aside for the fire. This is the reason for the abundance of water at the creation. But indeed, that fire is necessary to the world, no one is so completely outside of life as to need instruction from reason; not only because the arts that sustain our life all require the work of fire, weaving, I say, and shoemaking, and building, and agriculture, but because neither the sprouting of trees, nor the ripening of fruits, nor the generation of land or water animals, nor their nourishment would either have existed from the beginning, or would have lasted for a time, without the presence of heat. Therefore the creation of heat is necessary for the constitution and duration of things that come into being; and the abundance of moisture is necessary because the consumption by fire is unceasing and inevitable. 3.6 Look around at all creation, and you will see the power of heat ruling in all things that are in generation and decay. For this reason much water was poured out above the earth, and carried beyond the things that are seen, and moreover sown in all the depth of the earth. From whence comes the abundance of springs, and the confluence of wells, and the currents of rivers, both of torrents and of perennial streams, so that moisture might be preserved in many and various storehouses. From the east, from the winter solstice, flows the Indus river, the greatest stream of all river waters, as those who have written the circuits of the earth have recorded; and from the midst of the east, the Bactrus, and the Choaspes, and the Araxes, from which the Tanais also branches off and goes out into the Maeotian lake. And in addition to these, the Phasis flowing down from the Caucasian mountains, and countless others are borne from the northern regions to the Euxine Sea. And from the summer west, under the Pyrenees mountain, are the Tartessus and the Ister; of which the one is let out to the sea beyond the Pillars; but the Ister, flowing through Europe, issues forth into the Pontus. And why must one enumerate the others which the Rhipaean mountains produce, the mountains beyond innermost Scythia? Of which is also the Rhodanus with countless other rivers, themselves also navigable, which, having passed by the western Gauls and Celts, and the barbarians adjacent to them, all pour into the western sea. Others from the south above, through Ethiopia, some come to the sea near us; others empty into the sea beyond the navigable part; both the Aigon and the

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πλασματώδη ὑποτιθεμένων κατὰ τὸν λόγον· οὐδὲ ἀπαιτήσει ἡμᾶς εὐθύνας, ἐπὶ τίνος ἡ τῶν ὑδάτων ἥδραστο φύσις. Ὧ γὰρ λόγῳ τὴν γῆν βαρυτέραν οὖσαν τοῦ ὕδατος ἀπαιωροῦσι τοῦ μέσου τῶν ἐσχάτων ἀπάγοντες, τῷ αὐτῷ δήπου πάντως καὶ τὸ μυρίον ὕδωρ ἐκεῖνο, διά τε τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φορὰν, καὶ διὰ τὴν πανταχόθεν ἰσορροπίαν, περὶ τὴν γῆν ἀτρεμεῖν συγχω ρήσουσιν. Οὐκοῦν ἄπλετος ἡ τοῦ ὕδατος φύσις τῇ γῇ περιεκέ χυτο, οὐχὶ συμμέτρως ἔχουσα πρὸς αὐτὴν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ πολλαπλάσιον ὑπερβάλλουσα, οὕτως ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοῦ μεγάλου τεχνίτου προβλεψαμένου τὸ μέλλον, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐφεξῆς χρείαν τὰ πρῶτα διαθεμένου. Τίς οὖν χρεία τοῦ ἀμύθητον ὅσον ὑπερβάλλειν τὸ ὕδωρ; Ἐπειδὴ ἀναγκαία τῷ παντὶ τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ οὐσία, οὐ μόνον πρὸς τὴν τῶν περιγείων οἰκονομίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὴν συμπλήρωσιν τοῦ παντός. Κολοβὸν γὰρ ἂν ἦν τὸ ὅλον ἑνὶ τῷ μεγίστῳ καὶ καιριωτάτῳ πάντων ἐλλεῖπον. Ἀντικείμενα δὲ ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις, καὶ φθαρτικὸν ἕτερον τοῦ ἑτέρου· πῦρ μὲν τοῦ ὕδατος, ὅταν ἐπικρατῇ δυνάμει· ὕδωρ δὲ πυρὸς, ὅταν ὑπερβάλλῃ τῷ πλήθει. Ἔδει δὲ μήτε στάσιν εἶναι πρὸς ἄλληλα, μήτε ἐν τῇ παντελεῖ τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐκλείψει ἀφορμὴν παρασχεθῆναι τῷ παντὶ πρὸς διάλυσιν. Τοσαύτην τοῦ ὑγροῦ τὴν φύσιν οἰκονομῶν τὸ πᾶν προαπέθετο, ὥστε μέχρι τῶν τεταγμένων ὅρων τῆς τοῦ κόσμου συστάσεως κατὰ μικρὸν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ πυρὸς ἐξαναλισκόμενον ἀντισχεῖν. Ὁ τοίνυν ἅπαντα σταθμῷ καὶ μέτρῳ διαταξάμενος (ἀριθμηταὶ γὰρ αὐτῷ, κατὰ τὸν Ἰὼβ, καὶ σταγόνες εἰσὶν ὑετοῦ) ᾔδει πόσον τῷ κόσμῳ χρόνον ἀφώρισεν εἰς διαμονὴν, καὶ πόσην χρὴ τῷ πυρὶ προαποθέσθαι δαπάνην. Οὗτος ὁ λόγος τῆς τοῦ ὕδατος περιουσίας κατὰ τὴν κτίσιν. Ἀλλὰ μὴν τό γε τοῦ πυρὸς ἀναγκαῖον τῷ κόσμῳ, οὐδεὶς οὕτως ἔξω τοῦ βίου παντάπασιν, ὥστε τῆς ἐκ τοῦ λόγου διδασκαλίας προσδεῖσθαι· οὐ μόνον ὅτι αἱ συνεκτικαὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν τέχναι τῆς ἐμπύρου ἐργασίας ἐπιδέονται πᾶσαι, ὑφαντικὴ, λέγω, καὶ σκυτοτομικὴ, καὶ οἰκοδομικὴ, καὶ γεωργία, ἀλλ' ὅτι οὔτε δένδρων βλάστησις, οὐ καρπῶν πέψις, οὐ ζῴων ἐγγείων ἢ τῶν ἐνύδρων γένεσις, οὐχ αἱ τούτων τροφαὶ ἢ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἂν συνέστησαν, ἢ πρὸς χρόνον διήρκεσαν, τοῦ θερμοῦ μὴ παρόντος. Οὐκοῦν ἀναγκαία μὲν τοῦ θερμοῦ ἡ κτίσις διὰ τὴν τῶν γιγνομένων σύστασίν τε καὶ διαμονήν· ἀναγκαία δὲ τοῦ ὑγροῦ ἡ δαψίλεια διὰ τὸ ἄπαυστον εἶναι καὶ ἀπαραίτητον τοῦ πυρὸς τὴν δαπάνην. 3.6 Περίβλεψαι πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν, καὶ ὄψει τοῦ θερμοῦ τὴν δύναμιν τοῖς ἐν γενέσει καὶ φθορᾷ πᾶσιν ἐνδυναστεύουσαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πολὺ τὸ ὕδωρ ὑπὲρ γῆς κεχυμένον, καὶ ὑπερέκεινα τῶν ὁρωμένων ἀπενεχθὲν, καὶ προσέτι παντὶ τῷ βάθει τῆς γῆς ἐνεσπαρμένον. Ὅθεν πηγῶν ἀφθονίαι, καὶ φρεάτων σύρροιαι, καὶ ποταμῶν ῥεύματα, χειμάρρων τε καὶ ἀεννάων, ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐν πολλοῖς καὶ ποικίλοις ταμείοις διατηρεῖσθαι τὴν ὑγρασίαν. Ἐκ μέν γε τῆς ἕω, ἀπὸ μὲν χειμερινῶν τροπῶν ὁ Ἰνδὸς ῥεῖ ποταμὸς ῥεῦμα πάντων ποταμίων ὑδάτων πλεῖστον, ὡς οἱ τὰς περιόδους τῆς γῆς ἀναγράφοντες ἱστορήκασιν· ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν μέσων τῆς ἀνατολῆς ὅ τε Βάκτρος, καὶ ὁ Χοάσπης, καὶ ὁ Ἀράξης, ἀφ' οὗ καὶ ὁ Τάναϊς ἀποσχιζόμενος εἰς τὴν Μαιῶτιν ἔξεισι λίμνην. Καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ὁ Φάσις τῶν Καυκασίων ὀρῶν ἀπορρέων, καὶ μυρίοι ἕτεροι ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρκτῴων τόπων ἐπὶ τὸν Εὔξεινον Πόντον φέρονται. Ἀπὸ δὲ δυσμῶν τῶν θερινῶν ὑπὸ τὸ Πυρηναῖον ὄρος Ταρτησός τε καὶ Ἴστρος· ὧν ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν ἔξω Στηλῶν ἀφίεται θάλασσαν· ὁ δὲ Ἴστρος διὰ τῆς Εὐρώπης ῥέων, ἐπὶ τὸν Πόντον ἐκδίδωσι. Καὶ τί δεῖ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι οὓς αἱ Ῥιπαὶ γεννῶσι, τὰ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐνδοτάτω Σκυθίας ὄρη; Ὧν ἐστὶ καὶ ὁ Ῥοδανὸς μετὰ μυρίων ἄλλων ποταμῶν, καὶ αὐτῶν ναυσιπόρων, οἳ τοὺς ἑσπερίους Γαλάτας καὶ Κελτοὺς, καὶ τοὺς προσεχεῖς αὐτοῖς βαρβάρους παραμειψάμενοι, ἐπὶ τὸ ἑσπέριον πάντες εἰσχέονται πέλαγος. Ἄλλοι ἐκ τῆς μεσημβρίας ἄνωθεν διὰ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας, οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔρχονται θάλασσαν· οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἔξω τῆς πλεομένης ἀποκενοῦνται· ὅ τε Αἰγὼν καὶ ὁ