Complete Works of Philo Judaeus (Vol. 6)

to be so. For we humans are mixed from the four elements, which are indeed the wholes of the universe—heaven, earth, air, and fire—having borrowed small parts according to nature. But those that have been mixed are deprived of movement: heat from that which travels upward, and cold from that which travels downward; the earthy substance having weight is lightened, and has taken the upper place, which the most earthy part of us, the head, occupies. The bond which it tightened by force is violent and short-lived. For it is broken faster by the things that were bound, since they flee through longing due to the movement according to nature, toward which they hasten and depart. For according to the tragic poet,

Things that have grown from earth
move back to earth, and things that grew
from the heavenly seed
have gone back again to the heavenly
pole; nothing dies
of those things that come into being, but, being separated,
one from another,
it has shown a different form.

For all things that perish, this law and decree is written down: whenever the things that have come together in the mixture exist, before their natural order, they have participated in disorder, and move toward opposite places, so that in a way they seem to be foreigners; but whenever they are dissolved, they return to the proper state of their nature.

§. 12. But the world is free from the disorder mentioned in these cases. For come, let us observe. If it were perishing, its parts would necessarily be ordered in a place contrary to nature. But to assume this is not holy. For all parts of the world have been allotted the best position and harmonious order, so that each one, as if dwelling in its own fatherland, does not seek a better change. For this reason, the middle-most place was assigned to the earth, toward which, even if you throw all earthly things...