Laudator Temporis Acti

Augustine, Sermons 247.2 (Patrologia Latina, vol. 38, cols. 1157-1158; tr. Edmund Hill):

Isn't the daily course of nature itself a miracle, something to be wondered at? Everything is full of marvels and miracles, but they are so common that we regard them as cheap and of no account. Give me a rational explanation—I'm questioning you on something usual and everyday; give me an explanation of why the seed of such a big tree as the fig is so small that you can scarcely see it, while the humble pumpkin produces such an enormous seed. And yet in that tiny grain of seed, scarcely visible, there is, if you consider it with your mind, not your eyes; there is in that minuteness, in those infinitesimal limits, both a root hiding, and a trunk inserted, and the leaves to come are already tied on, and the fruit which is going to appear on the tree has already been programmed in the seed. There's no need to run through many instances; nobody can give a rational explanation of everyday things, and you are demanding of me an explanation of miracles?

Nonne admirandus est quotidianus cursus ipse naturae? Omnia miraculis plena sunt: sed assiduitate viluerunt. Redde mihi rationem: aliquid interrogo de consuetis et solitis: redde rationem, quare tam magnae arboris fici semen tam modicum est, ut videri vix possit, et humilis cucurbita tam grande semen parit. In illo tamen grano seminis exiguo, vix visibili, si consideres animo, non oculis; in illa exiguitate, illis angustiis, et radix latet, et robur insertum est, et folia futura alligata sunt, et fructus qui apparebit in arbore, iam est praemissus in semine. Non opus est multa percurrere: de quotidianis rebus nemo reddit rationem, et exigis a me de miraculis rationem.