These, moreover, were first framed before other things, according to the Divine wisdom, to be as it were a beginning of the whole machine, the great Moses indicating, I suppose, where he says that the heaven and the earth were made by God "in the beginning " that all things that are seen in the creation are the offspring of rest and motion, brought into being by the Divine will. Now the heaven and the earth being diametrically opposed to each other in their operations, the creation which lies between the opposites, and has in part a share in what is adjacent to it, itself acts as a mean between the extremes, so that there is manifestly a mutual contact of the opposites through the mean; for air in a manner imitates the perpetual motion and subtlety of the fiery substance, both in the lightness of its nature, and in its suitableness for motion; yet it is not such as to be alienated from the solid substance, for it is no more in a state of continual flux and dispersion than in a permanent state of immobility, but becomes, in its affinity to each, a kind of borderland of the opposition between operations, at once uniting in itself and dividing things which are naturally distinct. In the same way, liquid substance also is attached by double qualities to each of the opposites; for in so far as it is heavy and of downward tendency it is closely akin to the earthy; but in so far as it partakes of a certain fluid and mobile energy it is not altogether alien from the nature which is in motion; and by means of this also there is effected a kind of mixture and concurrence of the opposites, weight being transferred to motion, and motion finding no hindrance in weight, so that things most extremely opposite in nature combine with one another, and are mutually joined by those which act as means between them.

Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ πρῶτα [129] κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πεποιηκότος σοφίαν͵ οἷόν τις ἀρχὴ τοῦ παντὸς μηχανήματος προκατεσκευάσθη τῶν ὄντων͵ δεικνύντος͵ οἶμαι͵ τοῦ μεγάλου Μωσέως διὰ τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι εἰπεῖν͵ ὅτι κινήσεώς τε καὶ στάσεως ἔκγονα τὰ ἐν τῇ κτίσει φαινόμενα πάντα͵ τὰ κατὰ τὸ θεῖον βούλημα παραχθέντα εἰς γένεσιν. Τοῦ τοίνυν οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς ἐκ διαμέτρου πρὸς ἄλληλα κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον τῆς ἐνεργείας διεστηκότων͵ ἡ μεταξὺ τῶν ἐναντίων κτίσις ἐν μέρει τῶν παρακειμένων μετέχουσα. δι' ἑαυτῆς μεσιτεύει τοῖς ἄκροις͵ ὡς ἂν ἐπίδηλον γενέσθαι τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν ἐναντίων διὰ τοῦ μέσου συνάφειαν. Τὸ γὰρ ἀεικίνητον καὶ λεπτὸν τῆς πυρώδους οὐσίας μιμεῖται μέν πως ὁ ἀήρ͵ ἔν τε τῷ κούφῳ τῆς φύσεως καὶ τῷ πρὸς τὴν κίνησιν ἐπιτηδείως ἔχειν. Οὐ μὴν τοιοῦτός ἐστιν͵ οἷος τῆς πρὸς τὰ πάγια συγγενείας ἀλλοτριοῦσθαι͵ οὔτε ἀεὶ μένων ἀκίνητος͵ οὔτε διαπαντὸς ῥέων καὶ σκεδαννύμενος· ἀλλὰ τῇ πρὸς ἕτερον οἰκειότητι οἷόν τι μεθόριον τῆς τῶν ἐνεργειῶν ἐναντιότητος γίνεται͵ μιγνὺς ἅμα καὶ διαιρῶν ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ διεστῶτα τῇ φύσει.  Κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον καὶ ἡ ὑγρὰ οὐσία διπλαῖς ποιότησι πρὸς ἑκάτερον τῶν ἐναντίων ἁρμόζεται. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ βαρεῖά τε καὶ κατωφερὴς εἶναι͵ πολλὴν πρὸς τὸ γεῶδες τὴν συγγένειαν ἔχει. Τῷ δὲ μετέχειν ῥοώδους τινὸς καὶ πορευτικῆς ἐνεργείας͵ οὐ πάντη τῆς κινουμένης ἠλλοτρίωται φύσεως͵ ἀλλά τίς ἐστι καὶ διὰ τούτου μίξις τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ σύνοδος͵ τῆς τε βαρύτητος εἰς κίνησιν μετατεθείσης καὶ τῆς κινήσεως ἐν τῷ βάρει μὴ πεδηθείσης͵ ὥστε συμβαίνειν πρὸς ἄλληλα τὰ κατὰ τὸ ἀκρότατον τῇ φύσει διεστηκότα διὰ τῶν μεσιτευόντων ἀλλήλοις ἑνούμενα.