Lunar influence and the illusion of scale

Twelve times the year completes its course, being a poetic one, except that it requires an intercalary month for the exactness of the hours. For the solar year is a restoration from the same point to the same point according to the sun's own motion. When the moon wanes, the bodies of animals are thinned and become hollow; but when it waxes, they are replenished. This is because it secretly pours in moisture along with heat; for those sleeping under the moon are filled in the heads with excessive moisture, and the fresh-eating of meats, and whatever is of this kind, is quickly turned by the impact of the moon. Similarly, the things concerning the air arise from such a cause. For when a new moon is present and the calm is steady, sudden wind disturbances occur, with clouds being shaken and falling upon one another; and there are torrents around the fair-winded places, and a surging of the sea around the ocean. If even a solar eclipse occurs when there is a new moon, it happens more violently; for the moon, having passed below, obstructs the rays of the sun. Great indeed this moon has become.

But idle myths were preserved everywhere by drunken sailors: that it is moved from its own seat by certain levers and is carried toward the earth. And what kind of place would have received it after it had landed? For the appearance of it being something small did not deceive. For our vision, becoming small, made the things seen also seem small, bringing the natural passion upon visible things. For just as if someone were to view fields and oxen grazing at once from a distance, he would not seem to see an ant's fantasy; for the vision, having been obscured by the air and having become unsteady, is not sufficient for the exact understanding of the things seen. And that the body of the moon is immense, it is possible to learn from evidences. For all the cities throughout the inhabited world, most widely separated from one another, having been divided into four parts toward the east, equally receive the lunar light, and likewise those dwelling in the west, and the midday and northern parts, observe it.

And on the fifth day God commanded the waters to bring forth living souls according to their kind; and immediately the sea produced diverse kinds of all animals. Of the waves, some are amphibians, such as seals, and crocodiles, and the river horses, and also frogs, and crabs, but they do not have the swimming ability; for they are creeping by nature, being drawn toward the head of the water; but the live-bearing ones are seals, and dolphins, and rays, and those similar to them.

But God commanded also to prefer the deep ones, the coastal ones, the bottom ones, the rocky ones, the herd-like ones, the sporadic ones, the sea-monsters, the huge ones, and the very smallest of the fishes, having a natural kinship to the water. For if they are separated from the water a little, not having breath, they are destroyed; for the expansion and the covering of the gills, receiving the water and passing it through, possesses this breath. They do not have teeth halfway, but all their teeth are densely packed and sharp, so that by not being worn down by time, they may chew the food. For it was meant to be destroyed by the water in fine chewing. And nothing else emits a scent from them except the scabbard-fish.

And there is also other food suitable for others. For some are fed on mud, others on seaweeds, others on grasses nourished by the water; others are cannibals. And there are also diverse characteristics among them. The sawfish has long fins; and having seen a ship sailing straight, it, having raised its own fins, imitates the shapes of the ship's movement, and swims with those sailing. Having thus made forty stadia and having labored, it lowers its fins and is carried by the waves to its own place.

The sea-monster is called Aspidochelone by some; and it is by nature most immense, so as often to instill in those sailing the fantasy of a great island. For when it rises from the depths, its body appears like rough stones, and those plunging poles around it release the boats, which immediately sink, the sea-monster having been warmed by the sun and having dived into the depths. It also has a heavy voice by nature, and when hungry, opens its mouth and sends out a most fragrant exhalation, so as to lure the small fishes and to press them all into its mouth. And this dwells in the...