Truly the gods have not from the beginning revealed all things to mortals, but by long seeking, mortals discover what is better.

This upper limit, of earth at our feet is visible and touches the air, but below it reaches to infinity

For all things come from earth, and all things end by becoming earth.

If cattle and horses, or lions, had hands...

But without effort [God] sets in motion all things by mind and thought.

If oxen and lions had hands and could paint with their hands and produce works of art, as men do, horses would paint the forms of the gods likes horses and oxen like oxen. Each would represent them with bodies according to the bodies of each. So the Ethiopians make their gods black and snub-nosed; the Thracians give theirs red hair and blue eyes.

Ethiopians imagine their gods as black and snub-nosed; Thracians blue-eyed and red-haired. But if horses or lions had hands, or could draw and fashion works as men do, horses would draw the gods shaped like horses and lions like lions, making the gods resemble themselves.