65bristling Boreas invaded: the land opposite is drenched with constant clouds and rain from Auster. 67Above all this he set the clear aether, lacking weight and having nothing of the dregs of earth. 69Scarcely had he thus fenced everything off with fixed boundaries when the stars, which had long lain hidden, pressed down under that mass, began to blaze out all over the sky. 72And so that no region should be bereft of its own living creatures, the stars and the forms of the gods occupy the floor of heaven, the waters yielded to the shining fish to inhabit, the earth received wild beasts, the mobile air the birds. 76A creature more holy than these and more capable of lofty thought was still lacking, one that could hold dominion over the rest.
78Man was born, whether that craftsman of things, the source of a better world, made him from divine seed, or the earth, new and only lately parted from the high aether, still kept seeds of its kindred sky; 82this earth the son of Iapetus mixed with rain water and moulded into the likeness of the gods who govern all things. 84And while the other animals, bent forward, look at the earth, he gave man a face held high, and ordered him to look at the sky and to lift his countenance upright to the stars. 87So the earth, which had lately been rough and without form, was transformed and put on the unknown shapes of men.