The reason of this is that they are
pure, and not, like our precious stones, infected or corroded by the
corrupt briny elements which coagulate among us, and which breed
foulness and disease both in earth and stones, as well as in animals
and plants. They are the jewels of the upper earth, which also
shines with gold and silver and the like, and they are visible to
sight and large and abundant and found in every region of the earth,
and blessed is he who sees them. And upon the earth are animals and
men, some in a middle region, others dwelling about the air as we
dwell about the sea; others in islands which the air flows round, near
the continent: and in a word, the air is used by them as the water and
the sea are by us, and the ether is to them what the air is to us.
Moreover, the temperament of their seasons is such that they have no
disease, and live much longer than we do, and have sight and hearing
and smell, and all the other senses, in far greater perfection, in the
same degree that air is purer than water or the ether than air. Also
they have temples and sacred places in which the gods really dwell,
and they hear their voices and receive their answers, and are
conscious of them and hold converse with them, and they see the sun,
moon, and stars as they really are, and their other blessedness is
of a piece with this.
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