52 FABLE OF CUPID. 



next place after chaos, making it first the parent, then the 

 bride of the heaven, from which union proceed all things. 

 But we are not to suppose from this, that the ancients ever 

 thought of the earth as the principle of essence, but as the 

 element or rather origin of the system. We, therefore, 

 leave this subject to the parable on heaven that follows; 

 where we will inquire into the origin of things, which in 

 quiry comes after that of their elements. 



Thales made water the prime element. For he saw that 

 matter was mostly disposed in moisture, and that in water. 

 But he deemed that it was right to make that the element 

 of things in which the virtues and powers of entities, espe 

 cially the elements of generations and renovations, were 

 mostly found. He remarked that the generating of animals 

 was by moisture, and that the seeds and kernels of plants, 

 as long as they vegetated and were not dried up, were moist 

 and tender. He remarked that metals melted and flowed, 

 and were, as it were, the thickened j uices of the earth, or 

 rather a kind of mineral waters. He remarked that the 

 earth itself was enriched and renewed by showers or the 

 irrigation of rivers ; and that the earth and loam seemed 

 nothing but the dregs and sediments of water; but that 

 the air was very evidently the expiration and expansion of 

 water, and that fire was not conceived of itself, nor altoge 

 ther continued, or was kept alive of itself, but from and 

 through moisture ; and, moreover, that that fat of moisture, 

 in which the fire and flame are supported and live, appeared 

 a kind of maturity and concoction of water; and that a 

 body and mass of water was spread through the whole as 

 a common fuel ; that the sea surrounded the land ; that 

 there was a very vast and subterraneous force of sweet 

 waters, whence come springs and rivers which, like veins, 

 carry the waters through both the face and bowels of 

 the earth ; and that in the heights above were immense 

 congregations of vapours and waters, and, as it were, ano 

 ther universe of waters, for the reparation and renovation 

 of the waters below, and of the sea. He, moreover, thought 

 that those waters and vapours fed the heavenly fires, for that 

 those worlds could not subsist without some nourishment, 

 and that this was the only nourishment that they could 

 possess. He remarked that the figure of water, as seen in 

 drops or particles of water, was that of the universe, round 

 and spherical, and that the undulation of water was apparent 

 even in air and fire; lastly, that the motion of water was 

 suited to its nature, neither too slow nor too quick, and of 



