emus. "Have you not taken
notice likewise that having need of nourishment, they supply us with it
by the means of the earth? How excellently the seasons are ordered for
the fruits of the earth, of which we have such an abundance, and so great
a variety, that we find, not only wherewith to supply our real wants but
to satisfy even luxury itself." "This goodness of the gods," cried
Euthydemus, "is an evidence of the great love they bear to men." "What
say you," continued Socrates, "to their having given us water, which is
so necessary for all things? For it is that which assists the earth to
produce the fruits, and that contributes, with the influences from above,
to bring them to maturity; it helps to nourish us, and by being mingled
with what we eat, makes it more easily got ready, more useful, and more
delightful; in short, being of so universal an use, is it not an
admirable providence that has made it so common? What say you to their
having given us fire, which defends us from cold, which lights us when it
is dark, which is necessary to us in all trades, and which we cannot be
without in the most excellent and useful inventions of men?" "Without
exaggeration," said Euthydemus, "this goodness is immense." "What say
you, besides," pursued Socrates, "to see that after the winter the sun
comes back to us, and that proportionably as he brings the new fruits to
maturity, he withers and dries those whose season is going over; that
after having done us this service he retires that his heat may not
incommode us; and then, when he is gone back to a certain point, which he
cannot transgress, without putting us in danger of dying with cold, he
returns again to retake his place in this part of the heavens, where his
presence is most advantageous to us? And because we should not be able
to support either cold or heat, if we passed in an instant from one
extreme to the other, do you not admire that this planet approaches us
and withdraws himself from us by so just and slow degrees, that we arrive
at the two extremes without almost perceiving the change?" "All these
things," said Euthydemus, "make me doubt whether the gods have anything
to do but to serve mankind. One thing puts me to a stand, that the
irrational animals participate of all these advantages with us." "How!"
said Socrates, "and do you then doubt whether the animals themselves are
in the world for any other end than for the service of man? What other
animals