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Indeed you would not see rain flowing from the clouds during the time that the grain has been brought out by the ants. What reasoning can attain to it? what hearing will comprehend? what time will suffice to speak and recount all the wonders of the craftsman? Let us also say with the prophet, How magnified are your works, O Lord; in wisdom you have made them all. Therefore, it is not a sufficient excuse for us, that we have not been taught by letters what is profitable, since we have received the choice of what is beneficial by the untaught law of nature. Do you know what good you will do for your neighbor? What you wish to be done for yourself by another. Do you know what evil is? What you would not choose to suffer yourself from another. No art of the root-cutter, nor botanical experience has discovered the teaching of useful things for irrational creatures, but naturally each of the animals is a provider for its own salvation, and possesses a certain inexpressible affinity for what is according to nature. 9.4 And among us also the virtues are according to nature, for which the soul's affinity exists not from human teaching, but from nature itself. For as no reason teaches us to hate sickness, but we have an automatic aversion to painful things; so also in the soul there is a certain untaught avoidance of evil. And all evil is a sickness of the soul, while virtue holds the place of health. For some have well defined health to be the stability of natural operations. And one who says this also of the soul's well-being will not miss what is fitting. Hence the soul is untaughtly desirous of what is its own and according to nature. Therefore self-control is praised by all; and justice is acceptable; and courage is admirable; and prudence is highly esteemed. These are more akin to the soul than health is to the body. Children, love your fathers. Parents, do not provoke your children to anger. Does not nature also say these things? Paul exhorts nothing new, but strengthens the bonds of nature. If the lioness loves her offspring, and the wolf fights for its cubs, what will a man say who both disobeys the commandment and perverts nature, when either a child dishonors a father's old age, or a father through a second marriage forgets his first children? The affection of irrational creatures, of children and parents for one another, is irresistible, because God who created them compensated for the lack of reason through the abundance of the senses. For whence, among ten thousand sheep, does a lamb leaping from the pens know both the very color and the voice of its mother, and hasten to her, and seek out the proper sources of milk? And though it may find its mother's teats to be poor, it is content with them, having run past many udders heavy with milk. And how does the mother among ten thousand lambs recognize her own? One voice, the same color, a similar smell from all, as far as it appears to our sense of smell, but nevertheless there is in them some sense keener than our perception, by which each one is able to distinguish its own. The puppy does not yet have teeth, and yet it defends itself with its mouth against one who hurts it. The calf does not yet have horns, and it knows where its weapons will grow. These things have proof that the natures of all are untaught, and that nothing is disordered or indefinite among existing things, but all bear traces of the Creator's wisdom, showing in themselves that they were produced prepared for the preservation of their own salvation. The dog is devoid of reason, yet it has a perception equivalent to reason. For what the wise men of the world, sitting down with much leisure in life, barely discovered—I mean the complexities of syllogisms—these things the dog is shown to have been taught by nature. For while investigating the track of a wild beast, when it finds it branching off in many ways, having gone over the turns leading in each direction, it all but utters a syllogistic phrase through its actions: either the beast turned this way, it says, or this way, or in this direction; but indeed it is neither this way, nor this way, what remains is that it must have rushed this way; and so by the elimination of the false it finds

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Ἀμέλει οὐκ ἂν ἴδοις ὄμβρον ἐκ νεφῶν ἐπιρρυέντα παρ' ὅσον χρόνον ἐκ τῶν μυρμήκων ὁ σῖτος προβέβληται. Τίς ἐφίκηται λόγος; ποία χωρήσει ἀκοή; τίς ἐξαρκέσει χρόνος πάντα εἰπεῖν καὶ διηγήσασθαι τοῦ τεχνίτου τὰ θαύματα; Εἴπωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς μετὰ τοῦ προφήτου, Ὡς ἐμεγαλύνθη τὰ ἔργα σου, Κύριε· πάντα ἐν σοφίᾳ ἐποίησας. Οὐ τοίνυν ἡμῖν πρὸς ἀπολογίαν αὔταρκες, τὸ μὴ γράμμασι διδαχθῆναι τὰ συμφέροντα, τῷ ἀδιδάκτῳ τῆς φύσεως νόμῳ τὴν τοῦ λυσιτελοῦντος αἵρεσιν δεξαμένοις. Οἶδας τί ποιήσεις τῷ πλησίον καλόν; Ὃ σεαυτῷ βούλει παρ' ἑτέρου γενέσθαι. Οἶδας ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστι τὸ κακόν; Ὃ οὐκ ἂν αὐτὸς παθεῖν ἕλοιο παρ' ἑτέρου. Οὐδεμία ῥιζοτομικὴ τέχνη, οὐδὲ ἐμπειρία βοτανικὴ τῶν ὠφελίμων τοῖς ἀλόγοις τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐξεῦρεν, ἀλλὰ φυσικῶς ἕκαστον τῶν ζῴων τῆς οἰκείας ἐστὶ σωτηρίας ποριστικὸν, καὶ ἄρρητόν τινα κέκτηται τὴν πρὸς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν οἰκείωσιν. 9.4 Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν αἱ ἀρεταὶ κατὰ φύσιν, πρὸς ἃς ἡ οἰκείωσις τῆς ψυχῆς οὐκ ἐκ διδασκαλίας ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως ἐνυπάρχει. Ὡς γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἡμᾶς λόγος διδάσκει τὴν νόσον μισεῖν, ἀλλ' αὐτόματον ἔχομεν τὴν πρὸς τὰ λυποῦντα διαβολήν· οὕτω καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ ἔστι τις ἀδίδακτος ἔκκλισις τοῦ κακοῦ. Κακὸν δὲ πᾶν ἀρρωστία ψυχῆς, ἡ δὲ ἀρετὴ λόγον ὑγιείας ἐπέχει. Καλῶς γὰρ ὡρίσαντό τινες ὑγίειαν εἶναι τὴν εὐστάθειαν τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἐνεργειῶν. Ὃ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν εὐεξίας εἰπὼν, οὐχ ἁμαρτήσει τοῦ πρέποντος. Ὅθεν ὀρεκτικὴ τοῦ οἰκείου καὶ κατὰ φύσιν αὐτῇ ἀδιδάκτως ἐστὶν ἡ ψυχή. ∆ιὸ ἐπαινετὴ πᾶσιν ἡ σωφροσύνη· καὶ ἀποδεκτὴ ἡ δικαιοσύνη· καὶ θαυμαστὴ ἡ ἀνδρεία· καὶ ἡ φρόνησις περισπούδαστος. Ἃ οἰκειότερά ἐστι τῇ ψυχῇ μᾶλλον, ἢ τῷ σώματι ἡ ὑγεία. Τὰ τέκνα, ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς πατέρας. Οἱ γονεῖς, μὴ παροργίζετε τὰ τέκνα. Μὴ καὶ ἡ φύσις ταῦτα οὐ λέγει; Οὐδὲν καινὸν παραινεῖ Παῦλος, ἀλλὰ τὰ δεσμὰ τῆς φύσεως ἐπισφίγγει. Εἰ ἡ λέαινα στέργει τὰ ἐξ αὐτῆς, καὶ λύκος ὑπὲρ σκυλάκων μάχεται, τί εἴπῃ ἄνθρωπος καὶ τῆς ἐντολῆς παρακούων καὶ τὴν φύσιν παραχαράσσων, ὅταν ἢ παῖς ἀτιμάζῃ γῆρας πατρὸς, ἢ πατὴρ διὰ δευτέρων γάμων τῶν προτέρων παίδων ἐπιλανθάνηται; Ἀμήχανός ἐστιν ἡ στοργὴ τοῖς ἀλόγοις τέκνων καὶ γονέων πρὸς ἄλληλα, διότι ὁ δημιουργήσας αὐτὰ Θεὸς τὴν τοῦ λόγου ἔλλειψιν διὰ τῆς τῶν αἰσθητηρίων περιουσίας παρεμυθήσατο. Πόθεν γὰρ ἐν μυρίοις προβάτοις ἀρνειὸς τῶν σηκῶν ἐξαλλόμενος οἶδε μὲν τὴν χροίαν αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τῆς μητρὸς, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐπείγεται, ἐπιζητεῖ δὲ τὰς οἰκείας πηγὰς τοῦ γάλακτος; Κἂν πενιχραῖς ταῖς μητρῴαις περιτύχῃ θηλαῖς, ἐκείναις ἀρκεῖται, πολλὰ παραδραμὼν οὔθατα βαρυνόμενα. Καὶ ἡ μήτηρ ἐν μυρίοις ἄρνασιν ἐπιγινώσκει τὸ ἴδιον; Φωνὴ μία, χρόα ἡ αὐτὴ, ὀσμὴ παρὰ πάντων ὁμοία, ὅσον τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ὀσφρήσει παρίσταται, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐστί τις αὐτοῖς αἴσθησις τῆς ἡμετέρας καταλήψεως ὀξυτέρα, καθ' ἣν ἑκάστῳ πάρεστιν ἡ τοῦ οἰκείου διάγνωσις. Οὔπω οἱ ὀδόντες τῷ σκύλακι, καὶ ὅμως διὰ τοῦ στόματος ἀμύνεται τὸν λυπήσαντα. Οὔπω τὰ κέρατα τῷ μόσχῳ, καὶ οἶδε ποῦ τὰ ὅπλα αὐτῷ ἐμφυήσεται. Ταῦτα ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει τοῦ ἀδιδάκτους εἶναι τὰς φύσεις ἁπάντων, καὶ μηδὲν εἶναι ἄτακτον μηδὲ ἀόριστον ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἴχνη φέρειν τῆς τοῦ ποιήσαντος σοφίας, ἐν ἑαυτοῖς δεικνύντα ὅτι ἐμπαράσκευα πρὸς τὴν φυλακὴν τῆς οἰκείας αὐτῶν σωτηρίας παρήχθη. Λόγου μὲν ἄμοιρος ὁ κύων, ἰσοδυναμοῦσαν δὲ ὅμως τῷ λόγῳ αἴσθησιν ἔχει. Ἃ γὰρ οἱ κατὰ πολλὴν σχολὴν τοῦ βίου καθεζόμενοι μόλις ἐξεῦρον οἱ τοῦ κόσμου σοφοὶ, τὰς τῶν συλλογισμῶν λέγω πλοκὰς, ταῦτα δείκνυται παρὰ τῆς φύσεως ὁ κύων πεπαιδευμένος. Τὸ γὰρ ἴχνος τοῦ θηρίου διερευνώμενος, ἐπειδὰν εὕρῃ αὐτὸ πολυτρόπως σχιζόμενον, τὰς ἑκασταχοῦ φερούσας ἐκτροπὰς ἐπελθὼν, μονονουχὶ τὴν συλλογιστικὴν φωνὴν ἀφίησι δι' ὧν πράσσει· ἢ τήνδε, φησὶν, ἐτράπη τὸ θηρίον, ἢ τήνδε, ἢ ἐπὶ τόδε τὸ μέρος· ἀλλὰ μὴν οὔτε τήνδε, οὔτε τήνδε, λειπόμενόν ἐστι τῇδε ὡρμῆσθαι αὐτό· καὶ οὕτως τῇ ἀναιρέσει τῶν ψευδῶν εὑρίσκει