14. The bodies begotten by nature are the elements. As to the animals
and the plants, do they possess nature as the air possesses the light
which when retiring does not injure the air, because it never mingled
with the air, and remained separate from it? Or is nature's relation to
animals and plants the same as that of the fire with a heated body, to
which, on retiring, it leaves a warmth which is different from the heat
characteristic of the fire, and which constitutes a modification of the
heated body? Surely this. To the essence which it moulds, nature gives
a shape, which is different from the form proper to nature herself. We
might however still consider whether there be any intermediary between
nature and the essence which she moulds. However, we have sufficiently
determined the difference that exists between nature and the wisdom
which presides over the universe.