Complete Works of Philo Judaeus (Vol. 6)

one were to be winged and lifted on high when spring is at its peak and look down upon the mountains and the plain, the one rich in grass and greenery, producing herbs and fodder, barley and wheat, and countless other natures of sown things, both those which farmers planted and those which the season of the year provides of its own accord; and the other shady with branches and leaves, with which trees are adorned, and most full of fruits, not only those for eating, but also those that happen to cure ailments—for the fruit of the olive heals the weariness of the body, while that of the vine, when desired in moderation, softens the violent pains of the soul—and furthermore the more fragrant breezes rising from the flowers, and the countless properties of colors embroidered with divine art. And turning his sight away from the cultivated, he would observe in turn the wild trees, cedars, pines, firs, the heights of oaks, the continuous and deep forests of other wild things, which shade the greatest and most significant parts of the mountains and the vast deep-soiled regions of the wilderness, he will know the unyielding and tireless peak of the earth that is always growing young. So, not having been diminished from its ancient strength, it would even now, if it did before, be birthing humans, for the sake of two most necessary things: first, that it not desert its proper order, especially in the sowing and generation of the human, who is the best and leader of all land-dwelling things; and second, the assistance of woman, who, while pregnant, are forced to carry very heavy burdens for about ten months, and when about to give birth, often die from the labor pains themselves; in short, is it not terrible silliness to assume that the earth has taken into its womb the seeds for humans? For the place that creates life is the womb, the workshop of nature, as someone said, in which only animals are fashioned; but it is not a part of the earth, but was created from a female animal for generation, since also 945 P.