Book on the Universe

deservedly man, as the king of all living things, was called by the Supreme Truth a fish. Because if this order of nature had not been violated, either it would never have been, or man would be a fish. The blue fire at the root of the flame tending upward denotes the air, showing us blueness through privation and habit. The white flame of fire is the fiery fire. For the red fire is not seen except in the order of water; this is dry and most hot. Air is hot and potentially most moist. Water is moist but most cold. Earth is cold but most dry, and therefore it is incinerated by the hot. Just as the hot is united with the moist to establish the basis of life in the blood or its equivalent, so the moisture of the air, which is most penetrating, and moderate heat act upon the earth’s extreme dryness and moderate coldness. Just as, therefore, the highest heat and moderate dryness of fire temper the highest cold and the weaker airy moisture in water, so a temperament is made between the air and the earth, which is the basis and end of heavy things at the center, just as fire is the basis and end of light things toward the heaven. Therefore, with the order of the spheres of the elements violated by the wisdom of God, from two, namely water and earth, one was made. The earth being shaken, therefore, the most dense part, abounding in rocks and metals, and which was closest to the center, ascended and was confirmed into mountains. To the sea and waters, however, those places yielded from which the higher parts were elevated. But because by law there was a greater abundance of water than of earth, for that reason it was necessary also by divine command for it to be moved from the surface of the earth and constricted. For otherwise, in the sea, there appears to be such a height of water, before you reach 15,000 paces, that it is higher than any...