To the Nations 2.6

Come now, do you not grant that divinity not only does not run its course like a slave, but above all stands whole, and ought not to be diminished, interrupted, or corrupted? Otherwise all its blessedness is gone, if it ever suffers anything. But see, the stars too are eclipsed and bear witness that they have been eclipsed. The moon too confesses how much she has lost, when she recovers it. Her greater losses you are accustomed to observe in the mirror of water, so that I would no longer believe in any respect what the magi claim to know. The sun himself has often been assailed by eclipse. Invent whatever explanations you like for these heavenly mishaps: a god will not wish either to be made less or to cease to be. Let the champions of human learning see to it, who by the art of conjecture counterfeit wisdom and truth. For in other matters nature is so ordered that he who has spoken better seems to have spoken more truly, not that he who spoke more truly spoke better. But the one for whom the matter is weighed will surely say that it is more likely that these elements are ruled by someone than that they move of themselves; therefore things that are under someone are not gods. But if one errs in this, it is better to err simply than diligently, like the natural philosophers. And yet, if you look at the mythical kind, mortals err better in the natural kind, in ascribing divinity to things which they think are perceived to be above man in position, force, greatness, and divinity. For what is above man you may believe to be nearest to God.