body, and framed the universe to be the best and
fairest work in the order of nature, and the world became a living soul
through the providence of God.

In the likeness of what animal was the world made?--that is the third
question...The form of the perfect animal was a whole, and contained all
intelligible beings, and the visible animal, made after the pattern of
this, included all visible creatures.

Are there many worlds or one only?--that is the fourth question...One
only. For if in the original there had been more than one they would
have been the parts of a third, which would have been the true pattern
of the world; and therefore there is, and will ever be, but one created
world. Now that which is created is of necessity corporeal and visible
and tangible,--visible and therefore made of fire,--tangible and
therefore solid and made of earth. But two terms must be united by a
third, which is a mean between them; and had the earth been a surface
only, one mean would have sufficed, but two means are required to unite
solid bodies. And as the world was composed of solids, between the
elements of fire and earth God placed two other elements of air and
water, and arranged them in a continuous proportion--

fire:air::air:water, and air:water::water:earth,

and so put together a visible and palpable heaven, having harmony and
friendship in the union of the four elements; and being at unity with
itself it was indissoluble except by the hand of the framer. Each of the
elements was taken into the universe whole and entire; for he considered
that the animal should be perfect and one, leaving no remnants out of
which another animal could be created, and should also be free from old
age and disease, which are produced by the action of external forces.
And as he was to contain all things, he was made in the all-containing
form of a sphere, round as from a lathe and every way equidistant from
the centre, as was natural and suitable to him. He was finished and
smooth, having neither eyes nor ears, for there was nothing without
him which he could see or hear; and he had no need to carry food to
his mouth, nor was there air for him to breathe; and he did not require
hands, for there was nothing of which he could take hold, nor feet, with
which to walk. All that he did was done rationally in and by himself,
and he moved in a circle turning within himself, which is the most
intellectual of motions; but the other six motions were wa