Now that which is created is of necessity corporeal, and also visible and tangible. And nothing is visible where there is no fire, or tangible which has no solidity, and nothing is solid without earth. Wherefore also God in the beginning of creation made the body of the universe to consist of fire and earth. But two things cannot be rightly put together without a third; there must be some bond of union between them. And the fairest bond is that which makes the most complete fusion of itself and the things which it combines; and proportion is best adapted to effect such a union. For whenever in any three numbers, whether cube or square, there is a mean, which is to the last term what the first term is to it; and again, when the mean is to the first term as the last term is to the mean-then the mean becoming first and last, and the first and last both becoming means, they will all of them of necessity come to be the same, and having become the same with one another will be all one. If the universal frame had been created a surface only and having no depth, a single mean would have sufficed to bind together itself and the other terms; but now, as the world must be solid, and solid bodies are always compacted not by one mean but by two, God placed water and air in the mean between fire and earth, and made them to have the same proportion so far as was possible (as fire is to air so is air to water, and as air is to water so is water to earth); and thus he bound and put together a visible and tangible heaven. And for these reasons, and out of such elements which are in number four, the body of the world was created, and it was harmonised by proportion, and therefore has the spirit of friendship; and having been reconciled to itself, it was indissoluble by the hand of any other than the framer.

Σωματοειδὲς δὲ δὴ καὶ ὁρατὸν ἁπτόν τε δεῖ τὸ γενόμενον εἶναι͵ χωρισθὲν δὲ πυρὸς οὐδὲν ἄν ποτε ὁρατὸν γένοιτο͵ οὐδὲ ἁπτὸν ἄνευ τινὸς στερεοῦ͵ στερεὸν δὲ οὐκ ἄνευ γῆς· ὅθεν ἐκ πυρὸς καὶ γῆς τὸ τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχόμενος συνιστάναι σῶμα ὁ θεὸς ἐποίει. δύο δὲ μόνω καλῶς συνίστασθαι τρίτου χωρὶς οὐ δυνατόν· [31c] δεσμὸν γὰρ ἐν μέσῳ δεῖ τινα ἀμφοῖν συναγωγὸν γίγνεσθαι. δεσμῶν δὲ κάλλιστος ὃς ἂν αὑτὸν καὶ τὰ συνδούμενα ὅτι μάλιστα ἓν ποιῇ͵ τοῦτο δὲ πέφυκεν ἀναλογία κάλλιστα ἀποτελεῖν. ὁπόταν γὰρ ἀριθμῶν τριῶν εἴτε ὄγκων εἴτε δυνάμεων ὡντινωνοῦν ᾖ τὸ μέσον͵ [32a] ὅτιπερ τὸ πρῶτον πρὸς αὐτό͵ τοῦτο αὐτὸ πρὸς τὸ ἔσχατον͵ καὶ πάλιν αὖθις͵ ὅτι τὸ ἔσχατον πρὸς τὸ μέσον͵ τὸ μέσον πρὸς τὸ πρῶτον͵ τότε τὸ μέσον μὲν πρῶτον καὶ ἔσχατον γιγνόμενον͵ τὸ δ΄ ἔσχατον καὶ τὸ πρῶτον αὖ μέσα ἀμφότερα͵ πάνθ΄ οὕτως ἐξ ἀνάγκης τὰ αὐτὰ εἶναι συμβήσεται͵ τὰ αὐτὰ δὲ γενόμενα ἀλλήλοις ἓν πάντα ἔσται. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐπίπεδον μέν͵ βάθος δὲ μηδὲν ἔχον ἔδει γίγνεσθαι τὸ τοῦ παντὸς σῶμα͵ μία μεσότης ἂν ἐξήρκει τά τε μεθ΄ αὑτῆς συνδεῖν καὶ ἑαυτήν͵ [32b] νῦν δὲ στερεοειδῆ γὰρ αὐτὸν προσῆκεν εἶναι͵ τὰ δὲ στερεὰ μία μὲν οὐδέποτε͵ δύο δὲ ἀεὶ μεσότητες συναρμόττουσιν· οὕτω δὴ πυρός τε καὶ γῆς ὕδωρ ἀέρα τε ὁ θεὸς ἐν μέσῳ θείς͵ καὶ πρὸς ἄλληλα καθ΄ ὅσον ἦν δυνατὸν ἀνὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον ἀπεργασάμενος͵ ὅτιπερ πῦρ πρὸς ἀέρα͵ τοῦτο ἀέρα πρὸς ὕδωρ͵ καὶ ὅτι ἀὴρ πρὸς ὕδωρ͵ ὕδωρ πρὸς γῆν͵ συνέδησεν καὶ συνεστήσατο οὐρανὸν ὁρατὸν καὶ ἁπτόν. [32c] καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἔκ τε δὴ τούτων τοιούτων καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τεττάρων τὸ τοῦ κόσμου σῶμα ἐγεννήθη δι΄ ἀναλογίας ὁμολογῆσαν͵ φιλίαν τε ἔσχεν ἐκ τούτων͵ ὥστε εἰς ταὐτὸν αὑτῷ συνελθὸν ἄλυτον ὑπό του ἄλλου πλὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ συνδήσαντος γενέσθαι.