BOOK ONE. VII.

...to determine. Within it Water resides the seed-like power of all things: first of animals, whose seed is clearly watery; but also the seeds of shrubs and herbs, though they be of the earth, must necessarily be softened by water if they are to be fruitful, whether this happens by absorbing the moisture of the earth, or by dew, or rain, or by water applied by hand. For only Earth and Water are described by Moses as producing a living soul original: "animam viventem"; a reference to the Genesis creation account. Yet to the waters he attributes a double production: namely, of those that swim in the waters and those that fly in the air above the earth. That the productions of the earth are also partly owed to water is testified by the same scripture, which says that after creation, the bushes and plants had not germinated because God had not sent rain upon the earth. So great is the power of this element that even spiritual regeneration cannot occur without water, as Christ himself testified to Nicodemus. Its power in religion is also greatest in acts of atonement and purification; nor is its necessity less than that of fire. Its utilities are infinite and its use manifold, and all things consist of its power, as it possesses the strength for generating, nourishing, and increasing. For this reason, Thales of Miletus One of the earliest Greek philosophers (c. 624–545 BCE), who famously proposed that water was the primary substance of the universe and Hesiod established water as the beginning of all things, and said it was the oldest and most powerful of all elements, since it rules over all the others. For, as Pliny Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist and author of the "Natural History" says, the waters devour the lands; they kill flames; they climb into the heights and, by the veil of clouds, they claim the heavens for themselves; these same waters falling become the cause of all things that grow from the earth. Innumerable are the miracles of the waters described by Pliny, Solinus A 3rd-century Roman geographer known for his collection of curiosities, and many historians; Ovid also mentions their marvelous power in these verses:

original: "Medio tua corniger Hammon..." This and the following lines are from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book XV. Agrippa uses these classical myths to illustrate the "occult" or hidden powers of nature.
Is a spring, they say, that is cold by day but grows warm at sunrise and sunset.
The water of the Athamanians is said to set wood on fire
When the moon has waned to its smallest circles.
The Ciconians have a river which, when drunk, turns one’s
Entrails to stone, and coats touched objects in marble.
The Crathis and the Sybaris nearby in your lands,
Make hair like amber and gold.
And what is more wondrous, there are some liquids that can change
Not only bodies, but even minds.
Who has not heard of the foul waters of Salmacis?
And the Ethiopian lakes: if someone drinks from them,
He either goes mad or falls into a strange, heavy sleep.
Whoever slakes his thirst at the Clitorian spring,
Flees from wine and, abstaining, delights in pure water.
From here flows the Lyncestian river with an opposite effect:
Whoever draws from it with an intemperate throat
Staggers just as if he had drunk pure wine.
There is a lake in Arcadia—the ancients called it Pheneus—
Suspected for its ambiguous waters; fear them at night,
For they are harmful if drunk at night, but are consumed without harm by day.