he ripening of the fruits of the earth, and the
temperature of our bodies; and after that we look up to the sun, the
moderator and governor of all these things; and view the moon, by the
increase and decrease of its light, marking, as it were, and appointing
our holy days; and see the five planets, borne on in the same circle,
divided into twelve parts, preserving the same course with the greatest
regularity, but with utterly dissimilar motions amongst themselves; and
the nightly appearance of the heaven, adorned on all sides with stars;
then, the globe of the earth, raised above the sea, and placed in the
centre of the universe, inhabited and cultivated in its two opposite
extremities; one of which, the place of our habitation, is situated
towards the north pole, under the seven stars:--

Where the cold northern blasts, with horrid sound,
Harden to ice the snowy cover'd ground,--

the other, towards the south pole, is unknown to us; but is called by the
Greeks {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}: the other parts are uncultivated, because they are
either frozen with cold, or burnt up with heat; but where we dwell, it
never fails in its season,

To yield a placid sky, to bid the trees
Assume the lively verdure of their leaves:
The vine to bud, and, joyful in its shoots,
Foretell the approaching vintage of its fruits:
The ripen'd corn to sing, whilst all around
Full riv'lets glide; and flowers deck the ground:--

then the multitude of cattle, fit part for food, part for tilling the
ground, others for carrying us, or for clothing us; and man himself, made
as it were on purpose to contemplate the heavens and the Gods, and to pay
adoration to them; lastly, the whole earth, and wide extending seas, given
to man's use. When we view these, and numberless other things, can we
doubt that they have some being who presides over them, or has made them
(if, indeed, they have been made, as is the opinion of Plato, or if, as
Aristotle thinks, they are eternal), or who at all events is the regulator
of so immense a fabric and so great a blessing to men? Thus, though you
see not the soul of man, as you see not the Deity, yet, as by the
contemplation of his works you are le