[12,31] σχεδὸν γὰρ ἂν ταύτην δικαιότερον λέγοιμεν πρώτην τροφὴν τοῖς τε πρότερον καὶ τοῖς ὕστερον ἁπλῶς. ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἐκπέσῃ τῆς γαστρὸς νωθρὸν ἔτι καὶ ἀδρανὲς τὸ βρέφος, δέχεται μὲν ἡ γῆ, ἡ τῷ ὄντι μήτηρ, ὁ δὲ ἀὴρ εἰσπνεύσας τε καὶ ψύξας εὐθὺς ἤγειρεν ὑγροτέρᾳ τροφῇ γάλακτος καὶ φθέγξασθαι παρέσχεν. ταύτην εἰκότως πρώτην λέγοιτ´ ἂν τοῖς γεννωμένοις ἡ φύσις ἐπισχεῖν θηλήν.

[12,31] Indeed, we should almost be justified in calling this the first nourishment for both the earlier and the succeeding generations without distinction. For when the babe, still sluggish and feeble, is cast forth from the womb, the earth, its real mother, receives it, and the air, after breathing into it and quickening it, at once awakens it by a nourishment more liquid than milk and enables it to emit a cry. This might reasonably be called the first teat that nature offered to human beings at the moment of birth.

[12,32] ἃ δὴ πάσχοντες, ἐπινοοῦντες οὐκ ἐδύναντο μὴ θαυμάζειν καὶ ἀγαπᾶν τὸ δαιμόνιον, πρὸς δὲ αὖ τούτοις αἰσθανόμενοι τῶν ὡρῶν, ὅτι τῆς ἡμετέρας ἕνεκα γίγνονται σωτηρίας πάνυ ἀκριβῶς καὶ πεφεισμένως ἑκατέρας τῆς ὑπερβολῆς, {ἔτι δὲ} καὶ τόδε ἐξαίρετον ἔχοντες ἐκ τῶν θεῶν πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα ζῷα, λογίζεσθαι καὶ διανοεῖσθαι περὶ αὐτῶν.

[12,32] So experiencing all these things and afterwards taking note of them, men could not help admiring and loving the divinity, also because they observed the seasons and saw that it is for our preservation that they come with perfect regularity and avoidance of excess in either direction, and yet further, because they enjoyed this god-given superiority over the other animais of being able to reason and reflect about the gods.