We must believe, that the great artist, Nature, has so arranged it, that as the arid and dry earth cannot subsist by itself and without moisture, nor, on the other hand, can the water subsist unless it be supported by the earth, they are connected by a mutual union. The earth opens her harbours, while the water pervades the whole earth, within, without, and above; its veins running in all directions, like connecting links, and bursting out on even the highest ridges; where, forced up by the air, and pressed out by the weight of the earth, it shoots forth as from a pipe, and is so far from being in danger of falling, that it bounds up to the highest and most lofty places. Hence the reason is obvious, why the seas are not increased by the daily accession of so many rivers[1].
(66.) The earth has, therefore, the whole of its globe girt,
on every side, by the sea flowing round it. And this is not a
1. et seq. He argues
against the opinion of those who suppose that the water of springs is
entirely derived from evaporation. Seneca's account of the origin of
springs is found in his Nat. Quæst. iii. 1.