the nature of water

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Thence it was that Thales, of Miletus, and Hesiod concluded that Water was the beginning of all things, and said it was the first of all the Elements, and the most potent, and that because it hath the mastery over all the rest. For, as Pliny saith, Waters swallow up the Earth, extinguish flames, ascend on high, and by the stretching forth of the clouds, challenge the Heaven for their own; the same falling becomes the cause of all things that grow in the Earth. Very many are the wonders that are done by Waters, according to the writings of Pliny, Solinus, and many other historians of the wonderful virtue whereof.

—Agrippa
The Philosophy of Natural Magic
CHAPTER VI. Of the Wonderful Natures of Water, Air and Winds

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wait - what ?

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