1. The rising sun brings the day, the setting sun the night; for day
is the sun above the earth, night is the sun beneath the earth. From
the sun come the hours; from the sun, when it rises, the day; from
the sun, too, when it sets, the night; from the sun the months and
years are numbered; from the sun come the changes of the seasons.
2. When it runs through the south it is nearer the earth; when it
passes toward the north it is raised aloft. God has appointed for
it different courses, places, and times for this reason, lest if it
always remained in the same place all things should be consumed by
its daily heat—just as Clement says: “It takes on different motions,
by which the temperature of the air is moderated with a view to the
seasons, and a regular order is observed in its seasonal changes and
permutations. For when it ascends to the higher parts it tempers the
spring, and when it comes to the summit of heaven it kindles the
summer heats; descending again, it gives autumn its temperature. And
when it returns to the lower circle it leaves to us the rigor of
winter cold from the icy quarter of the heavens.”