Minucius Felix — Octavius 17
Nor do I refuse what Caecilius strove to assert among the chief points: that a human ought to know himself and look around at what he is, whence he is, why he is — whether compacted of elements or arranged from atoms, or rather made, formed, and animated by God. We cannot explore and dig that out without inquiry into the universe, since things are so cohering, connected, and concatenated that unless you carefully examine the account of divinity you do not know humanity, nor can you finely manage civic affairs unless you know this common city of the whole world — especially since we differ from wild beasts in this: that they, prone and bent to earth, are born to look at nothing but fodder, while we, to whom an upright face and upward look to heaven are given, and speech and reason by which we recognize, sense, and imitate God, may neither rightfully nor lawfully ignore the heavenly brightness thrusting itself on our eyes and senses. For it is the height of sacrilege to seek on the ground what you ought to find on high.
So those who will that this adornment of the whole world was not perfected by divine reason but globed from scraps clinging at random seem to me to have neither mind nor sense nor even eyes. For what can be so open, so confessed, so clear, when you lift your eyes to heaven and survey what is below and around, than that there is some divinity of most excellent mind by which all nature is inspired, moved, nourished, and governed? Look at heaven itself: how widely it stretches, how swiftly it turns — either marked with stars for night or lit by the sun for day — and you will know what a marvelous and divine balance of the highest governor is in it. Look also at the year, how the sun’s circuit makes it, and at the month, how the moon drives it by growth, aging, and labor. Why speak of the recurring turns of darkness and light, so there may be alternate repair of work and rest for us? A longer discourse on the stars must be left to the astronomers — whether they guide the course of sailing or bring on the time of ploughing and reaping. Each of these things not only needed a highest craftsman and perfect reason to be created, made, and arranged, but cannot even be sensed, perceived, and understood without the highest skill and reason.
Latin
XVII. "Nec recuso, quod Caecilius adserere inter praecipua conisus est, hominem nosse se et circumspicere debere, quid sit, unde sit, quare sit: utrum elementis concretus an concinnatus atomis, an potius a deo factus, formatus, animatus. Quod ipsum explorare et eruere sine universitatis inquisitione non possumus, cum ita cohaerentia, conexa, concatenata sint, ut nisi divinitatis rationem diligenter excusseris, nescias humanitatis, nec possis pulchre gerere rem civilem, nisi cognoveris hanc communem omnium mundi civitatem, praecipue cum a feris beluis hoc differamus, quod illa prona in terramque vergentia nihil nata sint prospicere nisi pabulum, nos, quibus vultus erectus, quibus suspectus in caelum datus est, sermo et ratio, per quae deum adgnoscimus, sentimus, imitamur, ignorare nec fas nec licet ingerentem sese oculis et sensibus nostris caelestem claritatem: sacrilegii enim vel maxime instar est, humi quaerere quod in sublimi debeas invenire. "Quo magis mihi videntur qui hunc mundi totius ornatum non divina ratione perfectum volunt, sed frustis quibusdam temere cohaerentibus conglobatum, mentem, sensum, oculos denique ipsos non habere. Quid enim potest esse tam apertum, tam confessum tamque perspicuum, cum oculos in caelum sustuleris et quae sunt infra circaque lustraveris, quam esse aliquod numen praestantissimae mentis, quo omnis natura inspiretur, moveatur, alatur, gubernetur? "Caelum ipsum vide: quam late tenditur, quam rapide volvitur, vel quod in noctem astris distinguitur, vel quod in diem sole lustratur: iam scies, quam sit in eo summi moderatoris mira et divina libratio. Vide et annum, ut solis ambitus faciat, et mensem vide, ut luna auctu, senio, labore circumagat.
Quid tenebrarum et luminis dicam recursantes vices, ut sit nobis operis et quietis alterna reparatio? Relinquenda vero astrologis prolixior de sideribus oratio, vel quod regant cursum navigandi, vel quod arandi metendique tempus inducant. Quae singula non modo ut crearentur, fierent, disponerentur, summi opificis et perfectae rationis eguerunt, verum etiam sentiri, perspici, intellegi sine summa sollertia et ratione non possunt. "Quid? cum ordo temporum ac frugum stabili varietate distinguitur, nonne auctorem suum parentemque testatur ver aeque cum suis floribus et aestas cum suis messibus et autumni maturitas grata et hiberna olivitas necessaria? Qui ordo facile turbaretur, nisi maxima ratione consisteret. Iam providentiae quantae, ne hiems sola glacie ureret aut sola aestas ardore torreret, autumni et veris inserere medium temperamentum, ut per vestigia sua anni revertentis occulti et innoxii transitus laberentur! "Mari intende: lege litoris stringitur. Quicquid arborum est vide: quam e terrae visceribus animatur! Aspice oceanum: refluit reciprocis aestibus. Vide fontes: manant venis perennibus. Fluvios intuere: eunt semper exercitis lapsibus. "Quid loquar apte disposita recta montium, collium flexa, porrecta camporum? quidve animantium loquar adversus sese tutelam multiformem? alias armatas cornibus, alias dentibus saeptas et fundatas ungulis et spicatas aculeis aut pedum celeritate liberas aut elatione pinnarum? "Ipsa praecipue formae nostrae pulchritudo deum fatetur artificem: status rigidus, vultus erectus, oculi in summo velut in specula constituti et omnes ceteri sensus velut in arce compositi.