BOOK III. X. 10-14 



and concealment, those sacred elements of the soul 

 with terrestrial principles," and fashion this sort of 

 living machine. By this law she produced cattle and 11 

 trees ; by this she fashioned the various kinds of 

 vines, for which this same mother and parent first 

 laid, as it were, certain foundations of roots upon 

 which they might stand, as upon feet. Then upon 

 these she placed the trunk, corresponding in a A^ay 

 to the upright carriage and appearance of a body ; 

 in the next place she caused it to spread out with 

 branches as if with arms ; and then she drew forth 

 stems and shoots corresponding to hands, of which 

 she endowed some with fruit and clothed others with 

 leaves alone for the protection and safe-keeping of 

 their progeny. 



If, then, from these vines, as I have said above, we 12 

 select, not those parts which are capable of conception 

 and heavy with young, but their coverings and sun- 

 shades, so to speak, which are destitute of fruit, our 

 toil will certainly have been spent for shade and not 

 for a harvest of grapes. What, then, is my point ? 13 

 Why, if a shoot is destitute of offspring, even though 

 it be sprung, not from hard wood, but from young, 

 do we condemn it as sure to be barren also in time 

 to come ? Just now, indeed, our reasoning inferred 

 that every part of the body has assigned to it a 

 pecuhar function which is manifestly appropriate to 

 that part ; so that a vine shoot, too, if sprung from 

 a favourable place, may have in it the power of 

 fruitfulness even though it be remiss in bearing for 

 a time. I would not deny that I have taken it 14 

 upon myself to prove this point ; but I declare most 

 emphatically that a rod, even though sprung from a 

 fruit-bearing part of the vine, does not even possess 



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