[198] therefore, God is the most ancient of all fountains. And is not this very natural? For he it is who has irrigated the whole of this world; and I am amazed when I hear that this is the fountain of life, for God alone is the cause of animation and life, and most especially of rational animation and of that life which is in [121] [122] [123] [124] union with prudence; for the matter is dead. But God is something more than life; he is, as he himself has said, the everlasting fountain of living.