Augustine of Hippo : What does it mean what is said next: likeness of some of the fish in the waters below the earth? Was it perhaps intended that water also be understood under the name of earth, because of its tangible matter, and that, according to those words of the Scripture: God made heaven and earth, (Genesis 1,1) we should think that they are also comprehended the waters? When the Scripture remembers many times these two parts, it wants the whole universe to be understood, according to those other words: My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth, (Ps. 120,2) and many similar ones. Or was it perhaps said beneath the earth, because the earth, if it were not above the waters, could not be inhabited by men or by the animals of the earth? — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 5 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)