CHAPTER		PAGE
XIII.	The relation of water to the other elements. Thales’s foolish notion that the earth floats on water like a ship at sea.	124
XIV.	The Egyptians divide each of the elements into male and female.	125
XV.	The veins of the earth resemble those of the human body. There are also analogies to marrow, mucus, etc., and to physical injuries, bleeding, birth, and perspiration.	125
XVI.	Intermittent fountains illustrate seasonal activity. The great vacant spaces of the earth and their inhabitants. Underground fish.	128
XVII.	The incredible wonders of nature are paralleled—and even outdone—by the excesses of luxury.	129
XVIII.	The extravagances of luxury, which make a wise man mad.	130
XIX.	To return: a sudden eruption of water casts up fish, generally poisonous. This points to the unfailing supply of subterranean water.	132
XX.	Various tastes of water are due to four causes; qualities of water include petrifying, soporific, intoxicating, and fatal varieties.	133
XXI.	The same pestilential influence that taints rivers is perceived in caves: the noxious rivers flow from or through them.	134
XXII.	The Ocean and the seas are as old as the universe. So, probably, are abnormal rivers like the Danube and the Nile.	135
XXIII.	Rain and surface water must be added to subterranean water.	135
XXIV.	The causes of hot springs.	136
XXV.	Poisonous rivers. The coloring power of others. Great specific gravity of certain waters, its effects, and its cause.	137
XXVI.	Intermittent rivers and springs. The means possessed by river, fountain, and sea to purify themselves.	141
XXVII.	Digression on the universal deluge that will destroy the world. Nature is stingy in creation but lavish in destruction. Ovid is inconsistent in his treatment of this catastrophe.	143
XXVIII.	Further imaginative descriptions of what water can do to cause destruction. Alternative methods of destroying the earth: by water and by fire.	148
XXIX.	Further possibilities of the same character. Distinctions of seas, gulfs, etc., will all be obliterated; nature and the works of man will alike be destroyed.	150
XXX.	Nature shows by the chafing of the sea that she plans to inundate the world. A deluge is part of the foreordained plan. However, there will be a new earth and a new race of men who will not sin—at least for a time.	154

BOOK IV

CONTAINING A DISCUSSION OF SNOW, HAIL, AND RAIN. [THE NILE]

PREFACE

The dangers of flattery and its insidiousness. If you must have praise, praise yourself. Lucilius has good cause; he must not...