It must not be supposed that the heavens or the luminaries are endowed with life Cf. August., Retract. ii. 2.. For they are inanimate and insensible Basil, Hom. 13, in Hexaëmeron.. So that when the divine Scripture saith, Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad Ps. xcvi. 11., it is the angels in heaven and the men on earth that are invited to rejoice. For the Scripture is familiar with the figure of personification, and is wont to speak of inanimate things as though they were animate: for example Text, ὡς τό. N. καὶ τὸ ἀνάπαλιν., The sea saw it and fled: Jordan was driven back Ps. cxiv. 3.. And again, What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou, O Jordan, that thou was driven back Ibid. 5.? Mountains, too, and hills are asked the reason of their leaping in the same way as we are wont to say, the city was gathered together, when we do not mean the buildings, but the inhabitants of the city: again, the heavens declare the glory of God Ibid. xix. 1., does not mean that they send forth a voice that can be heard by bodily ears, but that from their own greatness they bring before our minds the power of the Creator: and when we contemplate their beauty we praise the Maker as the Master-Craftsman Basil, Hom. 1 and 3, in Hexaëmeron..