De Plantatione

For, as in the case of woman and every animal of the female sex, fountains of milk spring up in them when they are about to bring forth, in order that they may supply the offspring that is born of them with necessary and suitable food; so in a similar manner God has assigned to the earth, which is the mother of all terrestrial animals, all the different species of plants, in order that the animals produced by the earth may have such food as is akin to them, and not alien from their natures.

And, indeed, God has caused plants to grow with their heads downwards, having fixed their heads in the deepest parts of the earth; and having drawn up the heads of the irrational animals from the earth, he has set them up high on long necks, putting their fore feet under their necks as a kind of foundation.

But man has received a preeminently superior formation. For of all other animals God has bent the eyes downwards, so that they look upon the ground; but on the other hand, he has raised the eyes of man so that he may behold the heaven, being not a terrestrial but a celestial plant as the old proverb is. [*](This is similar to what Ovid says — Pronaque dum spectant animalia caetera terram. Os homini sublime dedit: ccelumque tueri Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus. Which may be translated- And while all other creatures from their birth With downcast eyes gaze on their kindred earth, He bids man walk erect, and scan the heaven, From whence he sprung, to which his hopes are given. ) [*](This is similar to what Ovid says — Pronaque dum spectant animalia caetera terram. Os homini sublime dedit: ccelumque tueri Jussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus. Which may be translated- And while all other creatures from their birth With downcast eyes gaze on their kindred earth, He bids man walk erect, and scan the heaven, From whence he sprung, to which his hopes are given. )

But the others who say that our mind is a portion of the ethereal nature, have by this assertion attributed to man a kindred with the air; but the great Moses has not named the species of the rational soul by a title resembling that of any created being, but has pronounced it an image of the divine and invisible being, making it a coin as it were of sterling metal, stamped and impressed with the seal of God, the impression of which is the eternal word.

For, says Moses, "God breathed into man’s face the breath of life," [*](Genesis ii. 7. ) so that it follows of necessity, that he that received the breath must be fashioned after the model of him who sent it forth. On which account it is said too, that "Man was made after the image of God," [*](Genesis i. 27. ) and not after the image of any created being.

It follows, therefore, since the soul of man has been fashioned in accordance with the archetypal word of the great cause of all things, that his body also, having been raised up to the purest portion of the universe—the heaven, must extend its vision, in order that, by a comparison with what is visible, it may attain to an accurate comprehension of what is invisible.

Since, therefore, it was impossible for any one to perceive the attraction of the mind to the living God, except for those persons alone who were drawn towards him (for that which each person suffers, he alone particularly knows), God has given us the eyes of the body (as an evident and visible image of the invisible eye), which are able to look up to the heaven;