§36. This the more striking, if we consider the opposing forces out of which this order is produced.

Who that sees things of opposite nature combined, and in concordant harmony, as for example fire mingled with cold, and dry with wet, and that not in mutual conflict, but making up a single body, as it were homogeneous, can resist the inference that there is One external to these things that has united them? Who that sees winter giving place to spring and spring to summer and summer to autumn, and that these things contrary by nature (for the one chills, the other burns, the one nourishes, the other destroys), yet all make up a balanced result beneficial to mankind,—can fail to perceive that there is One higher than they, Who balances and guides them all, even if he see Him not? 2. Who that sees the clouds supported in air, and the weight of the waters bound up in the clouds, can but perceive Him that binds them up and has ordered these things so? Or who that sees the earth, heaviest of all things by nature, fixed upon the waters, and remaining unmoved upon what is by nature mobile, will fail to understand that there is One that has made and ordered it, even God? Who that sees the earth bringing forth fruits in due season, and the rains from heaven, and the flow of rivers, and springing up of wells, and the birth of animals from unlike parents, and that these things take place not at all times but at determinate seasons,—and in general, among things mutually unlike and contrary, the balanced and uniform order to which they conform,—can resist the inference that there is one Power which orders and administers them, ordaining things well as it thinks fit? 4. For left to themselves they could not subsist or ever be able to appear, on account of their mutual contrariety of nature. For water is by nature heavy, and tends to flow downwards, while the clouds are light and belong to the class of things which tend to soar and mount upwards. And yet we see water, heavy as it is, borne aloft in the clouds. And again, earth is very heavy, while water on the other hand is relatively light; and yet the heavier is supported upon the lighter, and the earth does not sink, but remains immoveable. And male and female are not the same, while yet they unite in one, and the result is the generation from both of an animal like them. And to cut the matter short, cold is opposite to heat, and wet fights with dry, and yet they come together and are not at variance, but they agree, and produce as their result a single body, and the birth of everything.

36 Τίς, ὁρῶν τὰ ἐναντία τῇ φύσει συνημμένα, καὶ σύμφωνον ἔχοντα τὴν ἁρμονίαν, οἷον, τίς, ἰδὼν πῦρ ψυχρῷ, καὶ ξηρὸν ὑγρῷ κεκραμμένον, καὶ ταῦτα μὴ ἀντιστατοῦντα πρὸς ἄλληλα, ἀλλ' ἓν ἀποτελοῦντα ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς τὸ σῶμα, οὐκ ἂν ἐνθυμηθείη ἔξωθεν εἶναι τούτων τὸν ταῦτα συνάψαντα; τίς, ἰδὼν χειμῶνα παραχωροῦντα ἔαρι, καὶ ἔαρ θέρει, καὶ θέρος μετοπώρῳ, καὶ ὅτι ἐναντία ὄντα ταῦτα τῇ φύσει· τὸν μὲν γὰρ ψύχει, τὸ δὲ καίει, τὸ δὲ τρέφει, τὸ δὲ φθίνει· ὅμως τὰ πάντα ἴσην καὶ ἀβλαβῆ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀποτελοῦντα τὴν χρῆσιν· οὐκ ἂν ἐννοήσειεν ὅτι ἐστί τις κρείττων τούτων, ὁ τὴν ἰσότητα παρέχων πᾶσι καὶ κυβερνῶν τὰ πάντα, κἂν μὴ βλέπῃ τοῦ τον; τίς, ὁρῶν ἐν ἀέρι τὰς νεφέλας ὑποβασταζομένας, καὶ ἐν νεφέλαις τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων δεθεῖσαν βαρύτητα, οὐκ ἔννοιαν λαμβάνει τοῦ ταῦτα δήσαντος καὶ προστάξαντος γενέσθαι; ἢ τίς, ὁρῶν αὐτὴν τὴν γῆν βαρυτάτην οὖσαν τῇ φύσει, ἐπὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἑδρασθεῖσαν καὶ ἀκίνητον μένουσαν ἐπὶ τὸ φύσει κινούμενον, οὐ διανοηθήσεται εἶναί τινα τὸν ταῦτα διαταξάμενον καὶ ποιήσαντα Θεόν; τίς, ἰδὼν τὴν κατὰ καιρὸν τῆς γῆς καρποφορίαν, καὶ οὐρανόθεν ὑετούς, καὶ ποταμῶν ἐπιρροίας, καὶ πηγῶν ἀναβλύσεις, καὶ ζώων ἐξ ἀνομοίων γονάς, καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἀεὶ ἀλλὰ κατὰ καιροὺς ὡρισμένους γινόμενα· καὶ ὅλως τίς, κατανοή σας ἐν ἀνομοίοις καὶ ἐναντίοις τὴν ἴσην καὶ ὁμοίαν παρ' αὐτῶν ἀποτελουμένην τάξιν, οὐκ ἂν ἐνθυμηθείη ὅτι ἐστὶ μία δύναμις ἡ ταῦτα διακοσμησαμένη καὶ διέπουσα, ὡς ἂν αὐτῇ δοκῇ, μένουσα καλῶς; αὐτὰ μὲν γὰρ καθ' ἑαυτὰ οὐκ ἂν συσταίη καὶ φανῆναί ποτε δυνηθείη διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα τῆς φύσεως ἐναντιότητα. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὕδωρ φύσει βαρὺ καὶ κάτω ῥέον ἐστίν, αἱ δὲ νεφέλαι κοῦφαι καὶ τῶν ἐλαφρῶν καὶ τῶν ἀνωφερῶν τυγχάνουσι· καὶ ὅμως τὸ βαρύ τερον ὕδωρ ὁρῶμεν ἐν ταῖς νεφέλαις βασταζόμενον. καὶ πάλιν ἡ μὲν γῆ βαρυτάτη ἐστί, τὸ δ' αὖ πάλιν ὕδωρ κουφότερόν ἐστι ταύτης· καὶ ὅμως ὑπὸ τῶν ἐλαφροτέρων τὸ βαρύτερον βαστάζεται, καὶ οὐ καταφέρεται, ἀλλ' ἕστηκεν ἀκίνητος ἡ γῆ. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἄρρεν οὐ ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ θήλει, καὶ ὅμως εἰς ἓν συνάγεται, καὶ μία παρ' ἀμφο τέρων ἀποτελεῖται γένεσις τοῦ ὁμοίου ζώου. καὶ συνελόντι φάναι, τὸ ψυχρὸν τῷ θερμῷ ἐναντίον ἐστί, καὶ τὸ ὑγρὸν τῷ ξηρῷ μάχεται· καὶ ὅμως συνελθόντα οὐ στασιάζει πρὸς ἑαυτά, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὁμονοίας ἓν σῶμα καὶ τὴν πάντων γένεσιν ἀποτελοῦσιν.