cur hoc solum quartum elementum aeris, quod tanto spatio intersitum est, cassum ab omnibus, desertum a cultoribus suis natura pateretur, quin in eo quoque aeria animalia gignerentur, ut in igni flammida, in unda fluxa, in terra glebulenta?
why then should nature leave only this fourth element of air, which occupies so large a middle space, to be entirely void and empty of its own inhabitants? Why should not aerial beings come into being in air too, as fiery ones do in fire, aquatic ones in sea, earthy ones on earth?
final_alignments\Apuleius_Socratis.json