XXX. (151) And a very similar effect is seen in the different parts of animals and especially of men. For hand is equal to hand, and foot to foot, and nearly all the other limbs of the body are equal to their corresponding members in magnitude, those on the left hand being equal to those on the right. And there are an exceeding number of things which are equal to one another in power, both among wet things and dry things, the judgment on which is seen in measures and scales, and things of that kind. (152) And nearly all things are equal as respects proportion, even all the little and all the great things in the whole world. For those who have examined the questions of natural philosophy with some accuracy say that the four elements are all equal in proportionate equality. And it is by proportion that the whole world is compounded together, and united, and endowed with consistency so as to remain firm for ever, proportion having distributed equality to each of its parts. (153) And they say also that the four element which are in us, dryness, and moisture, and cold, and heat have all been mixed together and well adapted by proportionate equality, and in fact that our whole composition is nothing but a mixture of the four powers combined together by an equality of proportion.
XXXI. (154) But any one who examines all these things might add an interminable list of arguments and instances to this one present discussion. If he considered he would find the very smallest animals equal to the largest as to proportion; as for instance he would find the swallow equal to the eagle, the herring equal to the whale, and the ant equal to the elephant. For body and soul, and again pains and pleasures, and moreover affection for and dislike towards things, and all the other feelings which the nature of animals experience, are nearly all of them similar, being made equal by the rule of proportion. (155) Thus some men have felt confidence even to declare that the smallest of animals, man, is equal to the whole world, considering that each of them consists of a body and a rational soul, so that, using a figurative expression, they have called man a little world, and the world a large man. (156) And in teaching this they are not very wide of the mark, but they know that the art of God according to which he created all things, admitting neither any extraordinary intensity nor any relaxation; but always remaining the same, made every single existing thing perfection, the Creator employing all numbers and all the ideas which tend to perfection.
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