Now in order that the earth should be at rest In the world’s midst, it would seem probable That its weight gradually diminishing Should disappear, and that the earth should have Another nature underneath, conjoined And blent in union from its earliest age With those aerial portions of the world Wherein it lives embodied. For this cause It is no burden, nor weighs down the air, Just as to a man his own limbs are no weight, Nor is the head a burden to the neck, Nor do we feel that the whole body’s weight Rests on the feet: yet a much smaller burden Laid on us from outside, will often hurt us. Of such great moment is it what each thing’s Function may be. Thus then the earth is not An alien body intruded suddenly, Nor thrust from elsewhere into an alien air, But was conceived together with the world At its first birth as a fixed portion of it, Just as our limbs are seen to be of us. Moreover the earth, when shaken suddenly With violent thunder, by its trembling shakes All that is over it; which in no wise Could happen, if it were not closely bound With the world’s airy parts, and with the sky. For they all, as though by common roots, cohere One with another, from their earliest age Conjoined and blent in union. See you not too That heavy as our body’s weight may be, Yet the soul’s force, though subtle exceedingly, Sustains it, being so closely joined and blent In union with it? Also what has power To lift the body with a nimble leap, Except the mind’s force that controls the limbs? Do you not now perceive how great the power May be of a subtle nature, when ’tis joined With a heavy body, even as with the earth The air is joined, and the mind’s force with us?