§15Sed cum soliditas mundo quaereretur, solida autem omnia uno medio numquam, duobus semper copulentur, ita contigit, ut inter ignem atque terram aquam deus animamque poneret eaque inter se conpararet et proportione coniungeret, ut, quem ad modum ignis animae, sic anima aquae, quodque anima aquae, id aqua terrae proportione redderet.
But since solidity was sought for the world, and all solid things are never joined by a single middle term, but always by two, it so happened that God placed water and air between fire and earth, and compared them with one another and joined them in proportion, so that just as fire is to air, so air is to water, and as air is to water, so water is to earth in proportion.
Qua ex coniunctione caelum ita aptum est, ut sub aspectum et tactum cadat.
From this conjunction, heaven was so fitted that it falls under sight and touch.
Itaque et ob eam causam et ex iis rebus numero quattuor mundi est corpus effectum ea constrictum conparatione, qua dixi; ex quo ipse se concordi quadam amicitia et caritate conplectitur atque ita apte cohaeret, ut dissolvi nullo modo queat nisi ab eodem, a quo est conligatus.
Therefore, both for this reason and from these things, four in number, the body of the world was made, bound together by that proportion of which I spoke; from which it embraces itself in a certain harmonious friendship and affection, and coheres so fittingly that it can in no way be dissolved except by the very one by whom it was bound.
§16Earum autem quattuor rerum, quas supra dixi, sic in omni mundo partes omnes conlocatae sunt, ut nulla pars huiusce generis excederet extra, atque ut in hoc universo inessent genera illa universa, id ob eas causas, primum ut mundus animans posset ex perfectis partibus esse perfectus, deinde ut unus esset nulla parte, unde alter gigneretur, relicta, postremo ne qui morbus eum posset aut senectus attingere.
Now of those four things which I mentioned above, all the parts were so collocated in the whole world that no part of this kind should remain outside, and so that those whole kinds should be in this universe, and this for these reasons: first, so that the living world might be perfect from perfect parts; secondly, so that it might be one, with no part left over from which another could be generated; and lastly, lest any disease or old age should be able to touch it.
§17Omnis enim coagmentatio corporis vel caloris vel frigoris vi vel aliqua inpulsione vehementi labefactatur et frangitur et ad morbos senectutemque conpellitur.
For every binding together of a body is weakened and broken by the force of heat or cold, or by some violent impulse, and is driven toward disease and old age.
Hanc igitur habuit rationem effector mundi et molitor deus, ut unum opus totum atque perfectum ex omnibus et totis atque perfectis absolveret, quod omni morbo et senio vacaret.
Therefore, God, the creator and builder of the world, had this design: to complete one whole and perfect work out of all things that were whole and perfect, which should be free from all disease and old age.
Formam autem et maxime cognatam et decoram dedit.
And he gave it a form that was most kindred and fitting.
A quo enim animanti omnis reliquos contineri vellet animantes, hunc ea forma figuravit, qua una omnes formae reliquae concluduntur, et globosum est fabricatus, quod sfairoeide/s Graeci vocant, cuius omnis extremitas paribus a medio radiis attingitur, idque ita tornavit, ut nihil efficere posset rotundius, nihil asperitatis ut haberet, nihil offensionis, nihil incisum angulis, nihil anfractibus, nihil eminens, nihil lacunosum, omnesque partes simillimas omnium, quod eius iudicio praestabat dissimilitudini similitudo.
For, since he willed all other living beings to be contained by that living being, he shaped it with that form by which alone all other forms are enclosed, and fabricated it spherical, which the Greeks call *sphairoeides*, whose outermost boundary is reached from the middle by equal rays, and he turned it so smooth that nothing could be made rounder, so that it had no roughness, no obstacle, nothing cut with angles, no twists, nothing protruding, nothing hollow, and all its parts were most similar to all others, because in his judgment similarity excelled dissimilarity.
§18Omni autem totam figuram mundi levitate circumdedit.
Moreover, he surrounded the entire shape of the world with complete smoothness.
Nec enim oculis egebat, quia nihil extra, quod cerni posset, relictum erat, nec auribus, quia ne quod audiretur quidem, neque erant anima circumfusa extrema mundi, ut respirationem requireret, nec vero desiderabat aut alimenta corporis aut detractionem confecti et consumpti cibi; neque enim ulla decessio fieri poterat neque accessio, nec vero erat unde.
For it did not need eyes, because nothing was left outside that could be seen, nor ears, because there was indeed nothing to be heard, nor was there air surrounding the outermost parts of the world, so that it would require respiration, nor indeed did it desire either nourishment for the body or the excretion of digested and consumed food; for no decrease or increase could take place, nor indeed was there any source from which it could.
Itaque se ipse consumptione et senio alebat sui, cum ipse per se et a se et pateretur et faceret omnia.
Therefore, it nourished itself by its own consumption and decay, since it itself, through itself and from itself, suffered and did all things.
Sic enim ratus est ille, qui ista iunxit et condidit, ipsum se contentum esse mundum neque egere altero.
For he who joined and established those things thought that the world was self-sufficient and did not need another.
§19Itaque ei nec manus adfixit, quoniam nec capiendum quicquam erat nec repellendum, nec pedes aut alia membra, quibus ingressum corporis sustineret.
Therefore, he did not attach hands to it, since there was nothing to be grasped or repelled, nor feet or other limbs by which it might support the gait of its body.
Motum enim dedit caelo eum, qui figurae eius esset aptissimus, qui unus ex septem motibus mentem atque intellegentiam cieret maxime.
For he gave to heaven that movement which was most fitting for its shape, which alone of the seven movements most stirs the mind and intelligence.
Itaque una conversione atque eadem ipse circum se torquetur et vertitur.
Therefore, by one and the same revolution, it is turned and rotated around itself.
Sex autem reliquos motus ab eo separavit itaque ab omni erratione eum liberavit.
But he separated the remaining six movements from it, and thus freed it from all wandering.
Ad hanc igitur conversionem, quae pedibus et gradu non egeret, ingrediendi membra non dedit.
For this revolution, therefore, which did not need feet and steps, he did not give limbs for walking.
§20Haec deus is, qui erat, de aliquando futuro deo cogitans levem illum effecit et undique aequabilem et a medio ad summum parem et perfectum atque absolutum ex absolutis atque perfectis.
These things the god who was, thinking of the god who would sometime exist, made that world smooth and everywhere uniform, and equal from the middle to the extremity, and perfect and complete from complete and perfect things.
Animum autem ut in eo medio conlocavit, ita per totum tetendit; deinde eum circumdedit corpore et vestivit extrinsecus caeloque solivago et volubili et in orbem incitato conplexus est, quod secum ipsum propter virtutem facile esse posset nec desideraret alterum satis sibi ipsum notum et familiare.
And just as he placed the soul in its middle, so he stretched it through the whole; then he surrounded it with a body and clothed it from without, and embraced it with a solitary and revolving heaven, moving rapidly in a circle, which, because of its virtue, could easily exist with itself and did not need another, being sufficiently known and familiar to itself.