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Or can any man speak as follows in defence of the
contrary? We say then that God, as a master workman,
had before him the four elements, to complete the fabric
of the universe; and these again were different one from
another. But earth and water were placed at the foundation, like matter, to be formed and fashioned, participating
of form and order and of power to procreate and bring
forth, so far as they are assisted by air and fire,—the great
artificers that mould them into various shapes,—and>
lying dead till roused by them to act and generate. Of
these two latter, fire is the ruling agent. This is manifest
by induction. For earth without warmth and heat is altogether barren and unfruitful; but fire, by virtue of its
rousing and inflaming quality, renders it diffusive, and
swells it into generation. Nor can any man find out any
other cause why rocks and the dry tops of mountains are
not productive, but because they participate either nothing
at all or very little of fire.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 5.
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