Bone was composed by him in the following manner. Having
sifted pure and smooth earth he kneaded it and wetted it with
marrow, and after that he put it into fire and then into water,
and once more into fire and again into water-in this way by
frequent transfers from one to the other he made it insoluble by
either. Out of this he fashioned, as in a lathe, a globe made of
bone, which he placed around the brain, and in this he left a
narrow opening; and around the marrow of the neck and back he
formed vertebrae which he placed under one another like pivots,
beginning at the head and extending through the whole of the
trunk. Thus wishing to preserve the entire seed, he enclosed it
in a stone-like casing, inserting joints, and using in the
formation of them the power of the other or diverse as an
intermediate nature, that they might have motion and flexure.
Then again, considering that the bone would be too brittle and
inflexible, and when heated and again cooled would soon mortify
and destroy the seed within-having this in view, he contrived the
sinews and the flesh, that so binding all the members together by
the sinews, which admitted of being stretched and relaxed about
the vertebrae, he might thus make the body capable of flexion and
extension, while the flesh would serve as a protection against
the summer heat and against the winter cold, and also against
falls, softly and easily yielding to external bodies, like
articles made of felt; and containing in itself a warm moisture
which in summer exudes and makes the surface damp, would impart a
nature coolness to the whole body; and again in winter by the
help of this internal warmth would form a very tolerable defence
against the frost which surrounds it and attacks it from without.
He who modelled us, considering these things, mixed earth with
fire and water and blended them; and making a ferment of acid and
salt, he mingled it with them and formed soft and succulent flesh.
As for the sinews, he made them of a mixture of bone and
unfermented flesh, attempered so as to be in a mean, and gave
them a yellow colour; wherefore the sinews have a firmer and more
glutinous nature than flesh, but a softer and moister nature than
the bones. With these God covered the bones and marrow, binding
them together by sinews, and then enshrouded them all in an upper
covering of flesh. The more living and sensitive of the bones he
enclosed in the thinnest film of flesh, and those which had the
least life within them in the thickest and most solid flesh. So
again on the joints of the bones, where reason indicated that no
more was required, he placed only a thin covering of flesh, that
it might not interfere with the flexion of our bodies and make
them unwieldy because difficult to move; and also that it might
not, by being crowded and pressed and matted together, destroy
sensation by reason of its hardness, and impair the memory and
dull the edge of intelligence. Wherefore also the thighs and the
shanks and the hips, and the bones of the arms and the forearms,
and other parts which have no joints, and the inner bones, which
on account of the rarity of the soul in the marrow are destitute
of reason-all these are abundantly provided with flesh; but such
as have mind in them are in general less fleshy, except where the
creator has made some part solely of flesh in order to give
sensation-as, for example, the tongue. But commonly this is not
the case. For the nature which comes into being and grows up in
us by a law of necessity, does not admit of the combination of
solid bone and much flesh with acute perceptions. More than any
other part the framework of the head would have had them, if they
could have co-existed, and the human race, having a strong and
fleshy and sinewy head, would have had a life twice or many times
as long as it now has, and also more healthy and free from pain.
But our creators, considering whether they should make a
longer-lived race which was worse, or a shorter-lived race which
was better, came to the conclusion that every one ought to prefer
a shorter span of life, which was better, to a longer one, which
was worse; and therefore they covered the head with thin bone,
but not with flesh and sinews, since it had no joints; and thus
the head was added, having more wisdom and sensation than the
rest of the body, but also being in every man far weaker. For
these reasons and after this manner God placed the sinews at the
extremity of the head, in a circle round the neck, and glued them
together by the principle of likeness and fastened the
extremities of the jawbones to them below the face, and the other
sinews he dispersed throughout the body, fastening limb to limb.
The framers of us framed the mouth, as now arranged, having teeth
and tongue and lips, with a view to the necessary and the good,
contriving the way in for necessary purposes, the way out for the
best purposes; for that is necessary which enters in and gives
food to the body; but the river of speech, which flows out of a
man and ministers to the intelligence, is the fairest and noblest
of all streams. Still the head could neither be left a bare frame
of bones, on account of the extremes of heat and cold in the
different seasons, nor yet be allowed to be wholly covered, and
so become dull and senseless by reason of an overgrowth of flesh.
The fleshy nature was not therefore wholly dried up, but a large
sort of peel was parted off and remained over, which is now
called the skin. This met and grew by the help of the cerebral
moisture, and became the circular envelopment of the head. And
the moisture, rising up under the sutures, watered and closed in
the skin upon the crown, forming a sort of knot. The diversity of
the sutures was caused by the power of the courses of the soul
and of the food, and the more these struggled against one another
the more numerous they became, and fewer if the struggle were
less violent. This skin the divine power pierced all round with
fire, and out of the punctures which were thus made the moisture
issued forth, and the liquid and heat which was pure came away,
and a mixed part which was composed of the same material as the
skin, and had a fineness equal to the punctures, was borne up by
its own impulse and extended far outside the head, but being too
slow to escape, was thrust back by the external air, and rolled
up underneath the skin, where it took root. Thus the hair sprang
up in the skin, being akin to it because it is like threads of
leather, but rendered harder and closer through the pressure of
the cold, by which each hair, while in process of separation from
the skin, is compressed and cooled. Wherefore the creator formed
the head hairy, making use of the causes which I have mentioned,
and reflecting also that instead of flesh the brain needed the
hair to be a light covering or guard, which would give shade in
summer and shelter in winter, and at the same time would not
impede our quickness of perception.