distinguished her from all other heavenly bodies, for she was the only
planet then known to vary in apparent size and shape “according to the
way in which the sun looks upon her.”[690] She was therefore a very
dark body, though it was believed that she had some light of her own,
and Dante argues in favour of this that she does not become totally
invisible during an eclipse.[691] This was a very natural conclusion:
it would not readily occur to anyone that the reddish light of the
eclipsed moon is sunlight refracted (_i.e._ bent out of its direct
course) in passing through the earth’s atmosphere.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[688] “The planet that strengthens the cold.” _Canz._ xv. 7.
[689] _Purg._ xix. 1-3.
[690] _Conv._ II. xiv. 78, 79.
[691] _De Mon._ III. iv. 140-142.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sun, although the astrologers made him not very much larger than
the brightest fixed stars and the largest planets, was much brighter
and hotter than any, and it was universally agreed that all obtained
their light from him. Even if, like the Moon, they had some light of
their own, and did not only reflect like mirrors, this inherent light
had originally come from the sun and was but absorbed sunlight.[692]
We meet constantly with this idea in Dante’s works. In one of his Odes
the sun is said to “donar luce alle stelle;”[693] in the _Convivio_ he
says, “Il sole ... di sensibile luce sè prima, e poi tutti i corpi
celestiali ed elementali allumina.”[694] The Morning Star is described
as deriving her beauty from the sun;[695] and after the sun has set he
shines forth again in the light of all the stars.[696]
So also says Brunetto Latini, “Sans faille li solaus est fondemenz de
toutès lumieres et de toute chalor.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[692] See quotations from Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon in Moore’s
_Studies_, iii. p. 45, _note_.
[693] “Bestow light on the stars.” _Canz._ xix. 117.
[694] “The sun illumines first himself and then all celestial and
elemental bodies with visible light.” _Conv._ III. xii. 54-56.
[695] _Par._ xxxii. 107, 108.
[696] _Par._ xx. 1-6; compare xxiii. 28-30.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. INFLUENCE OF THE SPHERES ON HUMAN AFFAIRS.
If we are to believe a fifteenth century biographer, we have so far
omitted to mention Dante’s greatest claim to be considered a proficient
in astronomy. “He foretold,” says Filelfo, “many of the calamities
of Florence, the wars of Italy, and other political changes, all of
which would have been impossible without an accurate knowledge of the
movements of the celestial bodies.”
Filelfo was a poet, and his authority for this surprising statement
can be no other than that on which, Dr. Moore says, he mainly depends,
and which seldom or never fails him, “his own most airy and lively
imagination unembarrassed by any references to documents.”[697] The
prophecies of the _Divina Commedia_ are obviously written after the
events, and in no single instance are they supposed to have any
connection with the art of the astrologers. On the contrary, it is
remarkable how very little we find in Dante’s writings about the
fate-predicting and character-reading which passed as the chief part of
astronomy with the large majority of his contemporaries, and played a
considerable part even in the scientific writings of his fellow authors.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[697] Moore, _Dante and his early Biographers_, p. 95.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not that he disbelieved in the art: it would have been almost a miracle
if he had. The astrologers in the fourth Bolgia were punished with
other soothsayers not because they deceived credulous clients, but
because they had desired to look too deeply into the future,[698] which
was impiety. For this reason the learned Michael Scot, the honoured
of Popes, was there, as well as poor Asdente, and Guido Bonatti, and
Aruns who from his solitary cave had watched the stars, and prophesied
the victories of Cæsar over Pompey.[699] This orthodox sentiment that
“judicial astronomy,” was apt to be a snare, and lead to practices
condemned by the Church, may have been one reason for Dante’s avoidance
of it; but we cannot read his works without feeling that it was the
beauty of the skies, and the keen desire to understand the structure of
the universe which inspired him to study astronomy, and that he had no
superstitious fear of the heavenly bodies, no greedy wish to make use
of his knowledge to pry into the future. There is no evidence that he
was acquainted with the details of astrology. The few allusions made
in his works to special effects of certain stars or planets are only
to those most familiarly known, and parallel instances might be found
to many of them in modern poems. With this difference, however, that
to-day they are figures of speech: with Dante they represented facts.
Venus was to him in serious truth “la stella d’amor,”[700] “lo bel
pianeta che ad amar conforta,”[701] and exercised a real power over
Folco[702] and Cunizza,[703] and his own heart.[704] He even tells
us, in serious prose, that it is the planet and not the whole sphere,
which is the source of this influence, and that it is borne to us upon
her rays.[705] So also the moon has a special influence, which is
communicated by her rays.[706]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[698] _Inf._ xx. 38.
[699] _Inf._ xx. 115-118, 46-51.
[700] “The star of love.” _Canz._ xv. 4.
[701] “The fair planet which incites to love.” _Purg._ i. 19.
[702] _Par._ ix. 94-96.
[703] _Par._ ix. 32, 33.
[704] _Conv._ II. _Canz._ 1-6.
[705] _Conv._ II. vii. 88-100.
[706] _De Mon._ III. iv. 139, 140.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To the strong star of Mars the noble warlike nature of Can Grande was
partly due;[707] Jupiter is a temperate star, not only in the purity
of his colour, but his influence is felt where justice is worked on
earth.[708] Saturn’s influence is modified when he shines in Leo,[709]
the sun has special powers in Aries,[710] and to his presence in
Gemini at the time of Dante’s birth the poet attributes his literary
gift.[711] In _Inf._ xxvi. 23, he again suggests that his mental powers
may be due to the influence of a good star, and Brunetto Latini bids
him follow his star.[712]
Dante also quotes Albumassar, and Seneca, and the events of his own
day, to show that those fiery vapours, meteorites, portend the death
of kings and the downfall of states, adding that this is because they
are effects of the sovereignty of Mars.[713] This passage explains why
the warrior Malaspina is called a vapour drawn by Mars from Valdimagra,
which in the tempest of battle at Piceno shall suddenly split the
clouds and deal death to the combatants.[714]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[707] _Par._ xvii. 76-78.
[708] _Par._ xviii. 115-117.
[709] _Par._ xxi. 13-15.
[710] _Par._ i. 40-42; _Canz._ xv. 41.
[711] _Par._ xxii. 112-117. The Ottimo, commenting this passage, says
that Gemini “is the house of Mercury, who signifies, according to the
astrologers, literature, science, and learning. And in this direction
it disposes those who are born when it is in the ascendant, and more
powerfully if the sun is in it.”
[712] _Inf._ xv. 55.
[713] _Conv._ II. xiv. 170-180.
[714] _Inf._ xxiv. 145-150.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The results of the right disposition of sphere with sphere are spoken
of in _Canz._ xix. 77-79; all the nine were in perfect accord when
Beatrice, herself a nine or miracle of perfection, was to be born;[715]
and every star rained its light and its virtue into her beautiful
eyes.[716] There is also a charming sonnet, in which the poet tells us
how all the seven planets influence his lady.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[715] _V. N._ xxx. 22-24.
[716] _Ball._ vi. 11, 12.
“Da quella luce che il suo corso gira
Sempre al volere dell’ empiree sarte,
E stando regge tra Saturno e Marte,
Secondo che l’astrologo ne spira;
Quella che in me col suo piacere aspira,
D’essa ritragge signorevol arte:
E quei che dal ciel quarto non si parte
Le dà l’effetto della mia desira.
Ancor quel bel pianeta di Mercuro
Di sua virtute sua loquela tinge,
E ’l primo ciel di sè già non l’è duro.
Colei, che ’l terzo ciel di sè costringe
Il cor le fa d’ogni eloquenza puro;
Così di tutti e sette si dipinge.”[717]
[717]
“From that bright star which moveth on its way
For ever at the Empyrean’s will,
And between Mars and Saturn ruleth still,
E’en as the expert astrologer doth say,
She who inspires me with her beauty’s ray
Doth subtle art of sovereignty distil;
And he whose glory doth the fourth heaven fill
Gives her the power my longing soul to sway.
And that fair planet known as Mercury
Colours her speech with all its virtue rare,
And the first heaven its boon does not deny.
She who the third heaven ruleth as her share
Makes her heart full of utterance pure and free;
So all the seven to perfect her agree.”
_Sonnet_ xxviii. (_Plumptre_).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In more serious vein is the discourse in _Par._ ii. on the different
virtues of the different stars;[718] and this should be compared
with passages in the _Quæstio_ and the _Convivio_. “Sciendum quod
licet cœlum stellatum habeat unitatem in substantia, habet tamen
multiplicitatem in virtute,”[719] sounds like an echo of the words of
Beatrice:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[718] _Par._ ii. 64-72, 130 to end.
[719] “It should be borne in mind that although the starry heaven has
unity in substance it nevertheless has multiplicity in virtue.” _Qu._
xxi. 12-14.
“Così l’intelligenza sua bontate
Multiplicata per le stelle spiega,
Girando sè sopra sua unitate.”[720]
[720]
“ ... E’en so
The intellectual efficacy unfolds
Its goodness multiplied throughout the stars,
On its own unity revolving still.”
_Par._ ii. 136-138. (_Carey_).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And when comparing Nobility with the star-spangled sky, our author says:
“Tante sono le sue stelle che nel cielo si
stendono, che certo non è da maravigliare, se molti
e diversi frutti fanno nella umana Nobiltà, _tante
sono le nature e le potenze di quelle, in una
sotto una semplice sustanza comprese e adunate_,
nelle quali siccome in diversi rami fruttifica
diversamente.”[721]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[721]
“So many are the stars which spread themselves over
her sky, that surely we cannot wonder if they make
many and diverse fruits grow on human nobility, _so
many are their natures and potencies, concentrated
and united in one simple substance_; and on them
as on diverse branches she bears fruit in diverse
ways.”
_Conv._ IV. xix. 45-52. (_Jackson_).
See also _Conv._ IV. xxi. 62-66.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The author goes on to say in the _Quæstio_ that the many and diverse
stars which we see in the eighth heaven were placed there in order that
it might pour down diverse virtues, and that he who perceives this
not, let him know that he is outside the pale of philosophy.[722] In
another place he tells us that the nearer a star is to the mid-circle
of the star sphere, the greater is its virtue:[723] he no doubt
means, not the celestial equator, but the zodiac (or more exactly the
ecliptic), since this was the mid-circle of the star sphere, parallel
to which its slow revolution of 36,000 years was made. This would
agree with the view of the astrologers, who paid more attention to the
constellations of the zodiac than to any others.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[722] _Qu._ xxi. 17-19.
[723] _Conv._ II. iv. 75-77.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
But we may search all Dante’s works in vain for any reference to the
“houses” or “aspects” of the planets, or for any information about the
masculine and feminine, mobile and stable, signs. All such things,
which seemed to most writers of his day quite as important as the
periods of the planets or the positions of the signs, he entirely
ignores. Among the circumlocutions by which he describes the signs,
such as “the fair nest of Leda,” or “the sign that follows Taurus,”
we never find “the house of Saturn,” or “the sign in which Mars is
mildest.” Leo is called Mars’ own Lion, probably because the “leo
audax et ferox” of bestiaries agreed with the fiery colour and nature
of Mars:[724] astrologically, his signs were Scorpio and Aries. It is
quite astonishing that among all the characteristics of the planets
and spheres mentioned in _Convivio_ II. chapters xiv. and xv., only
two relate to astrology, namely, the temperate disposition of Jupiter
between the hot Mars and cold Saturn, and the power of Mars to draw up
the hot vapours which become meteors and portend the deaths of kings.
All the rest—the markings and phases of the moon, the small size and
proximity to the sun of Mercury, the beauty of Venus and her appearance
alternately as morning and evening star, the brilliance of the sun and
his capability of giving light to all the stars, the position of the
sphere of Mars midway between those of the other planets, the purity
of Jupiter’s colour, the slow movement and distance of Saturn—all
these are purely astronomical, to use the modern distinction. So also
are the characters of the star sphere—the thousand and twenty-two
visible stars, and the indistinguishable stars of the Galaxy, the pole
we see and the other which remains hidden, the conspicuously swift
diurnal movement and the almost imperceptible secular revolution of
36,000 years. Of the Primum Mobile it is remarked that it controls the
movement of all the rest, and of the Empyrean that it is full of peace.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[724] But see Tozer’s _English Commentary on Dante’s Divina Commedia_,
note on _Par._ xvi. 37. “In mediæval astrology Mars was one of the
Lords of the Lion.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The symbolism of the spheres assigned in Paradise to the different
saints is partly drawn from astrological ideas, for in Venus Dante
meets the lovers, in Mars the warriors, in Jupiter the just rulers. But
those who were not eternally faithful to their vows are in the moon
because she has the lowest sphere,[725] the contemplative saints are
in the highest planet, the theologians who enlightened the faithful
are in the sun, and the ambitious are in the little planet which ever
keeps closest to the sun. The heaven of “many and diverse stars” shows
the poet a host of saints, and the Primum Mobile, which controls the
movement of the other spheres, reveals to him the Angels who direct
them.
It seems, then, that Dante was not interested in technical astrology,
and had never made a study of it; and I think we may adduce this
additional evidence that he had not learned astronomy in a university,
or under Cecco d’Ascoli. It is only necessary to look at the list of
books prescribed at Bologna[726] to feel sure that Dante had not taken
a regular course there. The list, it is true, belongs to a somewhat
later time, but there is no reason to suppose that astrology became of
more importance in the late fourteenth century than at its beginning.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[725] _Par._ iii. 55-57.
[726] See p. 202.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nevertheless, however little Dante may have cared for the details of
astrology, we shall never understand all that the skies meant to him
unless we realize that a general belief in their influence on man was
deeply rooted in his mind. For him it was a tremendous fact, and one
which pervades his writings, that stars and spheres are the instruments
of God’s providence, and are ordained by the First Mover to mould the
destinies of Earth.[727] It is their movements which manifest His
Will;[728] they are the hammers,[729] earth the metal, they are the
seals,[730] and earth the wax.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[727] _De Mon._ II. ii. 15-18, 25, 26, 36-38; III. ii. 30-32; xvi.
91-101; _Ep._ v. 133-135; _Par._ ii. 121, viii. 97-99.
[728] _Ep._ v. 124, 125.
[729] _Par._ ii. 127, 128.
[730] _Par._ ii. 130-132; xiii. 73-75; viii. 127, 128; i. 41, 42.
Ristoro of Arezzo uses the same expression, _Comp. del Mondo_, Bk. VII.
part I. chapter 2.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three times the stars are invoked to bring justice and righteousness
on earth.[731] Through the spheres the elements were evolved out of
the first chaotic matter, and everything on earth took form; all life
and motion is generated by them.[732] Man’s soul is a direct creation
by God, but the moving heavens play an important part in the formation
of his material body, his mental faculties, and his disposition.[733]
Were it not for the action of the spheres, children would be precisely
like their parents, their whole nature being governed by the law of
heredity alone: it is the different influences of the skies that give
them different natures.[734] This, says Beatrice, is perhaps what Plato
meant when he said that souls came from different stars and returned
thither: if his meaning was that the influences of the stars is so
great that to them is due the praise or blame which we distribute to
men, there is some truth in the saying.[735]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[731] _Purg._ vi. 100; xx. 13, 14; xxxiii. 40-45.
[732] _Par._ vii. 133-141; xiii. 65, 66; _Conv._ III. xv. 159-161; II.
xv. 152-154; IV. xxiii. 50-52.
[733] _Conv._ II. xiv. 28-30; IV. ii. 58-61; _Par._ xxvi. 128, 129.
[734] _Par._ viii. 127-135.
[735] _Par._ iv. 49-60. See also _Ecl._ ii. 16, 17; and _Conv._ IV.
xxi. 17-19, 25-27.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some truth only—“alcun vero”; for the stars are not independent
powers, for good or evil, which men are unable to resist. This view is
expressly combated in _Purg._ xvi. 58-84. Dante has asked the spirit
of the courtly Venetian Marco Lombardo why the world is so full of
wickedness now, for some say it is the effect of the heavens, and
others seek an earthly cause. Marco groans at the blindness of men, who
accuse heaven for the results of their own misdeeds: it is true that
the heavens influence our lower natures, our instincts, and desires;
but the soul is free, and can control them. This is in accordance
with the teaching of St. Augustine and Aquinas. In one passage of the
_De Monarchia_, Dante goes even further than this, and asserts that
the influences of the spheres are only good, and that evil results
from imperfections in the material on which these perfect instruments
work.[736]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[736] _De Mon._ II. ii. 21-23; _Cf. Par._ xiii. 64-78.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conceptions such as these give us a new idea of mediæval astrology.
They may be mistaken, but at least they are grand, and not unworthy of
a philosopher and a Christian.
5. THE MOTIVE POWER.
Dante’s ideas regarding the laws and origin of motion in the universe
were derived from Aristotelian metaphysics and Church doctrines. He
believed that there were three kinds of motion proper to three kinds
of bodies: _i.e._ heavy bodies tended towards the centre of the
universe, which is also the centre of the earth; light bodies tended
upwards to the region of fire just below the moon; and bodies of
ethereal substance—the stars, planets, and spheres—moved eternally in
circles round the centre. Thus Beatrice, when speaking of the instinct
implanted in all created things, which bears them through the great
ocean of being each to his destined haven, says:—
“Questi ne porta il foco inver la luna,
. . . . .
Questi la terra in sè stringe ed aduna.”[737]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[737] “This carries fire towards the moon, this compresses and binds
Earth together.” _Par._ i. 115, 117. See also _De Mon._ III. vii. 30,
31, and I. xv. 38-41; _Conv._ III. iii. 10-13; _Qu._ xviii. 11, 12, and
many others.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And Virgil:—
“Il foco movesi in altura,
Per la sua forma, ch’ è nata a salire
Là dove più in sua materia dura.”[738]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[738]
“The fire doth upward move
By its own form, which to ascend is born,
Where longest in its matter it endures.”
_Purg._ xviii. 28-30. (_Longfellow_).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is to say the form of a flame fits it to rise to that place
where, being in its own element, it may last longer than on Earth.
Conversely, the centre of the earth is described as the bottom
of the whole universe, and the point towards which all weights
are attracted.[739] These opposite forces Dante calls gravity and
levity.[740]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[739] _Inf._ xxxii. 8, and 74; xxxiv. 110, 111. See also _Par._ xxxiii.
22, 23; _Inf._ ix. 28, 29; _Qu._ iii. 6-9, etc.
[740] _De Mon._ I. xv. 46-48; _Qu._ xii. 39-42.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The most interesting illustration of this force of gravity is the
description, in the last canto of the Inferno, of passing the centre
of the earth, “il punto al qual si traggon d’ogni parte i pesi.”[741]
Virgil turned here “con fatica e con angoscia,”[742] and bid Dante hold
him fast, “ansando com’ uom lasso.”[743] It was natural to suppose that
the force of gravity would increase as one neared the centre, though
the fact is that it decreases. In deep mines it is less than at the
surface of earth; and if we could go to much greater depths we should
find that we could stand in any position, and walk in any direction
with almost equal ease, till at the exact centre the sense of weight
and of “up” and “down” would vanish altogether. This is because it
is the whole mass of the earth which attracts, and when we penetrate
beneath the surface the part above is no longer dragging us down, and
its effect is annulled. But at the surface gravity acts as if the
force were all concentrated at the centre, and falling bodies increase
their speed as they approach the surface: before the days of Newton,
therefore, it was thought that the whole of the attracting force was
actually situated at the centre of the earth. Brunetto Latini speaks
of gravity increasing as this point is approached, and Dante, like
Aristotle, calls it the goal of gravity.[744]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[741] “The point towards which weights are drawn from every direction.”
_Inf._ xxxiv. 110-111.
[742] “Laboriously and painfully.” _Inf._ xxxiv. 78.
[743] “Panting like a tired man.” _Inf._ xxxiv. 83.
[744] _Qu._ xvi. 54, 55.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Between the physical and the spiritual universe as conceived by
Dante, there is a very close correspondence. Souls burdened with the
weight of sin fall towards the centre of the universe, sinking deeper
the heavier is their guilt, and at the bottom of the whole universe
is the personification of all evil. Repentant souls, as they are
freed from their sins, rise higher and higher, and the ascent becomes
always easier, until at last they soar heavenward as naturally and
spontaneously as flames of fire. In Paradise the motion of the pure
spirits is inconceivably rapid, and their mystic dances expressive of
joy are always in circles.
Motion in circles was the only appropriate kind for the heavenly
bodies,[745] but the actual force which originated and preserved their
motions was intelligence and will. When Dante sang, “Voi che intendendo
il terzo ciel movete,”[746] he was not addressing beings created merely
by his poet’s imagination. His own commentary on the words shows
us that they were as real to him as the planets themselves. He can
know nothing of them through the senses, yet is as certain of their
existence as one with closed eyes is of light.[747] These beings move
the spheres not through any material contact, but solely by the power
of thought: they are immaterial immortal intelligences, commonly called
Angels, and Dante identifies them with the Forms of Aristotle, the
Ideas of Plato, and the gods and goddesses of the Pagans, “avvegnachè
non così filosoficamente intendessero quelle come Plato.”[748] As the
hammer beats out forms in metal, and thus expresses what is in the
mind of the smith, and as he works from the artist’s design, so the
movements and “virtues” of the sacred spheres mould earthly events, but
these movements and virtues are the expression of controlling angels,
and they are carrying out the Will of the First Mover. And as the joy
of a happy mortal shines out in the eyes, so the joy of the angels
shines out in stars and planets.[749]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[745] This is nowhere stated, but everywhere taken for granted, and
in _Conv._ II. xiv. 211 the circle is said to be the most perfect of
figures.
[746] “Oh ye whose intellectual ministry moves the third heaven.”
_Conv._ II. canzone; and _Par._ viii. 37.
[747] _Conv._ II. v. 119-126.
[748] “Although they did not think of them as philosophically as
Plato.” _Conv._ II. v. 5-37, 94, 95; vi. 154-159.
[749] _Par._ ii. 127-129, 142-144.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
There were nine Orders in the angelic hierarchies, according to the
teaching of the Church, the chief authority on this subject being
a book _De Celestia Hierarchia_, supposed to have been written by
Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of St. Paul, who had learned from
the apostle what he had seen when rapt to the third heaven. Aquinas
assigns to one of these nine orders the guidance of stars and planets,
and to others the rule over earthly affairs. But since the latter
follow the celestial motions, there was no need to separate the two
functions, and Dante laid down in the _Convivio_ that a few Angels from
each Order preside over the movements of each sphere. With Aristotle,
he agreed that there is one Intelligence for each movement, so that for
Venus (for instance) there are three movers to direct respectively the
circling of the Epicycle, the Deferent, and the movement of Precession
which every planet shares with the stars; but whether there is a fourth
mover to guide the diurnal motion of Venus or if all the inner spheres
are swept along by the motion of the Primum Mobile, he would not
presume to decide.[750]
When he wrote the _Paradiso_, he no longer thought that a few Angels
were set apart for this ministry: he implies that all the angels in
each order united in the act of moving a whole heaven and perhaps he
means to include the beatified human spirits as well.[751] He also
slightly changes the correspondence between the angelic orders and
their respective spheres.[752]
Swiftness of motion in a sphere corresponds with fervour of adoration
in the Movers: hence the highest and swiftest of the moving heavens,
which is the Primum Mobile, is moved by the highest Order, the
Seraphim: and the lowest and slowest, which is that of the moon, by the
lowest order, the Angels.[753]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[750] _Conv._ II. v. and vi.
[751] _Par._ viii. 34-37.
[752] _Cf. Par._ xxviii. 98 to end, with _Conv._ II. vi. 43-55,
106-109.
[753] _Par._ xxviii. 34-39, 64-75.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All these movements are a proof of the existence of a First Mover,
Himself unmoved, as Aquinas had said, following Aristotle, and the
first words of Dante’s confession of faith in Paradise are an echo of
this:—
“Io credo in uno Iddio,
Solo ed eterno, che tutto il ciel muove,
Non moto, con amore e con disio.”[754]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[754]
”In one God I believe,
Sole and eterne, who moveth all the heavens,
With love and with desire, Himself unmoved.”
_Par._ xxiv. 130-132. (_Longfellow_).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here, as often elsewhere, Dante identifies the heavens with their
Movers, and speaks as if the spheres themselves were moved by love and
longing. In the tenth heaven, or Empyrean, this longing was completely
fulfilled, hence this heaven was for ever at rest.[755]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[755] _Conv._ II. iv. 13-30; _Ep._ x. 442-452, and 472-488; _Par._ i.
121-123.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_VIII. MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE._
MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Let us now gather into one picture the details of mediæval astronomy
which Dante has taught us, and try to see the universe as it presented
itself to men’s minds in his days.
Motionless, at the centre of all things, is the earth, a massive globe
20,400 miles in circumference.[756] Only the northern part of one
hemisphere is inhabited; the rest is covered by ocean. It is surrounded
by air, into which rise the exhalations from land and sea which cause
winds, rain, etc. Above the height to which these rise, and above the
tops of the highest mountains, the air sweeps uninterruptedly round the
earth from east to west, sharing the movement of the skies. Above this
again is the region of pure fire: all fire on Earth’s surface tends to
rise into it, and hot dry vapours ascending here burst into flame, and
are seen from Earth as shooting stars and comets.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[756] Probably equal to 26,500 English statute miles.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bounding the sphere of fire is the lowest of the celestial spheres,
that of the moon; and here we pass abruptly from the world of the
four elements, transitory, changing, to the celestial world, eternal,
changeless. Sphere rises above sphere, carrying moon and sun and
planets, until we reach the vast orb in which are set all the stars.
All these bodies are composed of a mysterious imponderable substance
called æther; all are perfectly spherical, and all their movements are
circular. The diurnal rotation which we see is caused by an outermost
sphere which contains no star: it communicates its own motion to all
the spheres within it. The zodiacal motions of sun, moon, and planets,
and the precession of the equinoxes, are caused by the proper motion of
each sphere, rotating from west to east. The oscillating movements of
the five planets and the varying speed of the moon are caused by small
rotating spheres called epicycles, on which planets and moon are fixed,
the epicycles in their turn being attached to the large spheres.
The distance from the earth to the nearest heavenly body, which is the
moon, is 64⅛ times the radius of the earth; the distance of the fixed
stars, more than 20,000 times the radius of Earth.
Mercury, the smallest of the heavenly bodies, is only 232 miles in
diameter,[757] the moon and Venus are both rather more than a quarter
the size of the earth, Mars is a little larger than Earth; next in
order of size come the stars, from the faintest visible increasing up
to those of the second magnitude; Saturn and Jupiter are much larger
than Earth, and the fifteen brightest (first-magnitude) stars larger
still; the sun is the largest body in the whole universe, having a
diameter 5½ times Earth’s diameter. It is immensely bright and hot, is
the source of light to the whole universe, and on Earth is the chief
giver of light, heat, and life, and the chief measure of time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[757] 300 English statute miles.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The moon and stars are also useful in this way to Earth, and upon her
are poured all the influences of the celestial spheres, the sun, moon,
and planets: these are the instruments by which every event on Earth is
brought to pass.
It is their nature to move in circles, as it is Earth’s nature to
remain motionless at the centre of the universe; but all their motions
are controlled by the wills of immortal angels, which are subject to
the Will of the First Mover.
The sensible universe is eternal, but it is finite and measurable, and
of definite form,[758] being bounded by a sphere. Beyond this in every
direction is infinity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[758] _Conv._ IV. ix. 23-25.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Such was the mediæval conception of the Universe, as we gather from
learned mediæval books, and as we find it vividly pictured in Dante’s
glowing verse. How do we conceive it now?
The heavens are the same to our eyes as to Dante’s. The blue dome of
the sky still arches over our heads, and in it we may see the stars
shine out after the sun has set; we may see Venus making all the orient
smile at early dawn, and the light of the moon not yet risen paling the
stars of Scorpio. We may also see with our bodily eyes what was only
visible to the keen eyes of Dante’s mind, the rising sun travelling
to our left, and the southern stars circling round the southern pole,
while the stars of the north sink below the ocean floor.[759]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[759] Compare with Dante’s accurate descriptions a poem by Kipling in
“A School History of England”:—
“South and far south below the line
Our Admiral leads us on.
Above, _undreamed-of planets_ shine.” (!)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
But to one who knows anything of modern astronomy the ideas suggested
are widely different. Most striking is the absence of that sharp
contrast between Earth and heaven which our forefathers felt. Earth
is not to us small, dark, and inert, made of the basest material and
sunk, like the dregs of the Universe, to its lowest depths. Earth is
a heavenly body, as the Pythagoreans rightly guessed, a beautiful big
planet, shining brightly by reflected sunlight and moving swiftly, like
her sister-planets. To Venus she is the brightest star in the sky; to
the moon she shows a far larger disc than the moon shows to us, and
markings more beautiful and wonderful, brilliant caps of snow at either
pole, oceans coloured blue-green, and continents varying in tint,
whenever the dazzling white clouds part to reveal her surface.
Earth is the largest planet among her neighbours, Mercury, Venus, and
Mars; just as Jupiter is largest among the giant planets—Saturn and the
more recently discovered Uranus and Neptune. In the gap between these
two groups modern astronomers have discovered hundreds of tiny planets,
to which Earth is a monster, for many are only a few miles in diameter.
The meteorites which shoot across our view, “startling quiet eyes,” we
still regard as a kind of conflagration in our upper atmosphere, but
instead of vapours rising from Earth’s surface we recognise them as
visitants from inter-planetary space, caught by Earth’s great mass as
they pass too near, and flaming up with the heat caused by their sudden
rush through the air. They exist in shoals of thousands and millions,
some small as pebbles, some like great rocks, but all belonging to
our system and pursuing definite paths like planets. The same must be
said of comets, which have just as little to do with a hypothetical
fire-sphere round Earth, but travel in regular periods, some long,
some short; several small ones are seen every year, and occasionally a
great splendour like Halley’s draws near to us in its orbit, yet even
these seem to consist of very small quantities of matter. Other members
of our celestial family are the moons of Mars, Jupiter, and the rest,
of which more are still being discovered. The Earth-Moon system is,
however, unique in that our satellite is much nearer our own size than
the proportionately tiny companions of other planets and the pair must
look like a beautiful “double” moving through the stars and continually
revolving round one another.
[Illustration: Fig. 53. Comparative sizes of the Sun and his
satellites. _p. 490_]
All these bodies are made, not of a mysterious ether, but of something
just as wonderful, beautiful, and incomprehensible—the same stuff as
Earth. Most probably all developed in long-past ages out of a nebula,
or mass of gas which for some unknown reason was intensely hot. Small
bodies, like the Moon and Mars, cooled off the most quickly, and have
lost or are losing their air and their water; larger bodies, like
Jupiter, have still some heat, and are probably in a more or less fluid
condition. On the sun an inconceivable heat still rages; everything is
in a gaseous state, and this globe which men used to think eternally
changeless is the scene of the fiercest turmoil; currents are always
ascending and descending, clouds of fire are flung up thousands of
miles high, and patches which look black compared with the surrounding
surface and indicate a mysterious commotion are constantly forming,
developing, and disappearing. The sun is enormously larger than Dante
thought, larger than all the planets put together, large enough for
our moon’s whole orbit to fit comfortably inside. It is hot enough
and brilliant enough to light all the planets: this, which was only
a guess of mediæval astronomers, we know as a fact to-day, and the
planets which are suitably placed show it to us, when seen in the
telescope; Venus, for instance, changing her phase “according as the
sun looks upon her,” exactly like the moon. And Earth must show similar
phases as seen from Mars.
For Aristarchus was right: the sun is the centre of the planetary
movements, including those of the planet Earth.
We saw how Ptolemy’s system hinted at this, in the significant
connection between each planet’s movement and the movement of the
sun; but a strong argument against it was that if Earth were really
moving round the sun we ought to see a yearly displacement in the
positions of all the stars. Modern instruments have at last made it
possible to perceive this displacement. About a hundred stars, our
nearest neighbours, describe a very minute orbit in the sky, which in
every case is an exact reflection of the sun’s apparent orbit round
the earth. Unless, therefore, we are going to provide all these stars,
as well as the planets, with epicycles, which must all revolve in the
same period, in the same direction, and in parallel planes, we must
conclude that the movement is really Earth’s yearly movement round the
sun. These miniature star-orbits also show us the stupendous distances
which lie between Earth and the nearest stars, while by far the greater
number are too remote to show any displacement at all.
Aristarchus and those other ancient astronomers were also right who
thought that Earth was turning on her axis, and thus producing by her
own motion the alternation of day and night, and the apparent circling
of the stars. When we look now at stars hastening across the sky,
they no longer present themselves to our thought as fixed on a sphere
with a radius of 20,000 Earth-radii, which is revolving round us at a
tremendous speed; we feel that we are looking into space at glowing
globes which are at various and almost inconceivable distances from
us; also that all those we see, all those that Hipparchus numbered,
are but an insignificant fraction of all those now known to exist.
All have their own real motions, as well as the apparent motions
produced by Earth, but these are in different directions, towards what
goal we cannot at present tell. Compared with them, Earth is indeed
insignificant, in size and also in brightness, for while she shines
with reflected light they glow as the sun does and are his peers.
Nevertheless, with them too we have a feeling of kinship, for analysis
of their light shows that they too are made of earth-stuffs: they are
not eternal nor changeless, for very many vary constantly in their
light, and they are at different stages of development, some appearing
very young, while others are beginning to burn dim and low, and some
can only be inferred to exist, for they seem to be wholly dark.
More wonderful perhaps than anything else, we find that the force
which binds the whole of our sun’s family together is nothing strange
and unknown, but the same familiar force of gravity, which the Greeks
knew so well but thought only applicable to Earth. Its rule includes
the seemingly unruly comets and meteors, and it extends as far as our
search can reach, to the uttermost star.
This sense of unity throughout the world, which is always growing
stronger, is comforting. And we allow ourselves to wonder whether
intelligent life has not developed elsewhere, as well as on this globe
that we inhabit. Perhaps each planet that attends our sun is fitted at
some period to be the abode of life: surely among the millions of stars
many must have attendant planets, and on some of them even now are
living, thinking, beings.
Dante’s world was easier to think about than ours. Encompassed by an
infinity which gave the imagination free scope, the material universe
within was neatly rounded off, as it were, complete, finished. Only
in the central spot was any development taking place, and thither
were directed all effects of the circling spheres. Our universe is
vague, vast, mysterious, without known limits or centre, offering
problem after problem to the thinker. Dante’s marvellous moon-substance
is simple compared with the baffling nature of our æther; Dante’s
Angel-Movers are intelligible compared with the amazing mystery of
universal gravitation.
Yet when we lift our eyes from earth to heaven, we share the feeling
of our mediæval forefathers, of the ancient Greeks, of the earliest
men whenever and wherever they became men. The unerring courses of
the stars speak to us, “the unperturbed to the perturbed,” of perfect
harmony, untouched by chance or arbitary conflicting wills. Now,
however, we do not believe this is because heaven is essentially
different from earth: it is because we see there only the grand
outlines, only the working of great laws, of a system which includes
our own earth. Could we but lose sight of the details here, and view
the history of man as we view the stars, the harmony would be as grand.
HYMN TO ZEUS.
Most glorious of the Immortals, many-named, Almighty for ever,
Zeus, Ruler of Nature, that governest all things with law,
Hail! for lawful it is that all mortals should address thee.
For we are thy offspring, taking the image only of thy voice,
as many mortal things as live and move upon the earth.
Therefore will I hymn thee, and sing thy might for ever.
For thee doth all this universe that circles round the earth
obey, moving whithersoever thou leadest, and is gladly swayed
by thee.
Such a minister hast thou in thine invincible hands—the
two-edged, blazing, imperishable thunderbolt.
For under its stroke all nature shuddereth, and by it thou
guidest aright the universal Reason, that roams through
all things, mingling itself with the greater and lesser
lights, till it has grown so great, and become supreme
king of all.
Nor is aught done on the earth without thee, O God, nor in
the divine sphere of the heavens, nor in the sea,
Save the works that evil men do in their folly.
Yea, but thou knowest even to find a place for superfluous
things, and to order that which is disorderly, and things
not dear to men are dear to thee.
Thou dost harmonize into one all good and evil things, that
there should be one everlasting Reason of them all.
And this the evil among mortal men avoid and heed not
wretched, ever desiring to possess the good; yet they
nor see nor hear the Universal Law of God, which,
obeying with all their heart, their life would be well.
But they rush graceless each to his own aim,
Some cherishing lust for fame, the nurse of evil strife,
Some bent on monstrous gain,
Some turned to folly and the sweet works of the flesh,
Hastening indeed to bring the very contrary of these things to pass.
But thou, O Zeus, the all-giver, dweller in the darkness of cloud,
lord of thunder, save thou men from their unhappy folly,
Which do thou, O Father, scatter from their souls, and give them to
discover the wisdom, in whose assurance thou governest all
things with justice;
So that, being honoured, they may pay thee honour,
Hymning thy works continually, as it beseems a mortal man,
Since there can be no greater glory for men or gods than this,
Duly to praise for ever the Universal Law.
CLEANTHES (3rd century B.C.).
_Translation by T. W. Rolleston._
INDEX.
(Pages 1 to 206 are in Part I.: 207 onwards, in Part II.)
Abrachis (Hipparchus), 193
Abul Hazan, 184
Abul Wefa, 183, 194
“Acerba,” 227, 243
Achernar, 12, 155, 156, 295
Achilles, Shield of, 53
Adam, 349, 438
Albategnius, 183, 193, 202, 239, 275
Albertus Magnus, 204, 232, 237, 239, 241, 292,
306, 324, 342, 432, 443, 454
” and meteors, 319
Albert of Saxony, 464, _n._465
Al Betrugi (Alpetragius), 184
Albumassar, 239, 245, 443, 473
Alchabicius, 202
Alchemy, 212-13, 215
Aldebaran, 155, 156
Alexander the Great, 79, 80, 112, 145
Alexandria, 113, 118, 122, 134, 135, 156, 157, 172
” Astronomers of, 122, 124, 137, 153, 163, 171, 175, 288
” Museum and observatory of, 113, 114, 116, 117, 122, 135
” School of, 112 _et seq._, 163
Alfarcatein, 187, 234
Alfonso X., 195, 203, 242
Alfraganus, 183, 233-37, 243
” editions of, 235, 437, _n._458
” geography of, 337
” writings of, 184 _et seq._, 193-4
” and climates, 324, 397
” ” colure, 403
” ” Dante, 253, 254, 273, 275, 286, 288-90, 299, 313,
315, 328, 335, 347, 403, _n._403, 436-37,
444, 448-51, 458-9
” and eclipses, 338
” ” meteors, 320
” ” moon, 349, 448-49
” ” precession, 288, 439
” ” Regulus, 406
” ” Ristoro, 245-47
Algazel, 245
Almagest, 114, _n._115, 123, 136, 154, 159,
163, 182, 184, 193, 209, 218, 232, 238
” translations of, 201-2
Al Mamun, 182, 185, 186, 192
‘Almanach Dantis Aligherii,’ 421-23
Al Mansur, 181
Alpha Draconis, 127
” Centauri, 155, 191
” Phœnicis, 156
Amerigo Vespucci, 294
Anaxagoras, 60, 61, 76, 98, 239, 305
Anaximander, 26, 56, 66, 75, 76, 91, 99
Anaximenes, 60, 98
Andrea Corsali, 294
Angelitti, Prof., 281, 410, 415, 417, 423
Angels, 249, 284, 302, 311, 388, 414-15, 441, 477, 482-84, 489, 494
Angelo de Gubernatis, _n._399
Anomaly, of planets, 140, 143
Antæus, 371
Antares, 30
Antichthon, 71, 75, 101, 236
Antipodes, 66, 176, 324
Antonelli, _n._295
Apogee, 119;
of moon, 148, 449, 450;
of sun, 146, 193
Apollonius, 118, 141
Aquarius, 33, _n._36, 145, 149, 156, 277, 290, 385
Aquila, 12
Aquinas, St. Thomas, 201, 204 _et seq._, 211, 237, 238,
241, 306, 339, 454, 479, 483, 484
Arabs (_see also Mahomedan_)
” astronomers, 218;
year, 39;
zodiac, 30
” and astrology, 213;
astronomy, 181 _et seq._
Aratus, 25 _Note_, 31, 32, 34, 35, _n._35, 58, 168
Archimedes, 107
Arcturus, 36, 52, 155, 190, 191
Arculf, 176
Argo, _n._36
Aries (_see also Ram_), 40, _n._43, 265, 279, 281, 290,
325, 356, 368, 373, 374, 387, 398, _n._399
” first point of, 129, 185, 277, 357, 403, 404
” and astrology, 249
” ” Jupiter, 418
” ” Mars, 476
” ” Sun, 277, 278, 281, 323, 325, 333, 367, 368, 383, 396,
398, 402-5, 418, 419, 422, 473
Aristarchus, 107 _et seq._, 111, 120, 121, 153, 191, 492
Aristophanes, 162
Aristotle, 58, 66, 95 _et seq._
” cosmogony of, 101-02, 103 _et seq._, 123, 160, 201, 204
” influence on science, 80, 136, 182, 184, 193
” translations of, 214, 237
” and Arabs, 184
” ” Averroës, 463
” ” Calippus, 95, 107
” ” the Galaxy, 237, 305, 306
” ” Dante, 235-38, 241, 254-55, 261, 301, _n._321, 342,
431, 442, 451, 454, 464-65, 480-84
” ” gravity, 445
” ” Latin authors, 170
” ” Mars, 310, 433
” ” meteors, 319, 321
” ” music of the spheres, 455
” ” Plato, 85
” ” southern hemisphere, 353
” ” spheres 431, 432, 434, 461
Aruns, 472
Aryabhata, 110-11
Arym, 247, 329
Arzachel, 184, 195
Asdente, 212, 472
Assisi, St. Francis of, 271
Astrolabe, 114, 115, 122, 144, 192, 202, 203, 341
” invention of, 115, 133
Astrologers, 213, 231, 369, 419, 469, 476
” of Brescia, 211;
13th century, 216
Astrology (_see also Star Influence_, and _Astronomy, Judicial_),
6, 45, 47, 157, 161, 172, 211 _et seq._, 218,
243, 245, 249, 308, 471, 476, 478-9
” Arab, 183, 200, 213
” books on, 202-3
” Egyptian, 113, 157
” Jewish, 213
” professors of, 200
” and planets, 211
Astronomy, Alexandrian, 112 _et seq._, 218, 231, 288, 335
” Arab, 181 _et seq._, 190, 204, 232, 239, 243, 245, 461-3
” Babylonian, 40 _et seq._, 209, 421 (_see also Babylonians_)
” Chinese, 29 _et seq._, 115
” Egyptian, 209 (_see also Egyptians_)
” Greek, 209, 236, 314, 445, 461 (_see also Greeks_)
” Indian (_see Hindu, and India_)
” judicial, 124, 213, 233, 261 (_see also Astrology_)
” Moorish, _n._200, 203
” Persian, 195
” primitive of, 25 _et seq._
” in Spain, 183, 194
” taught by Church, 176
” personified, 217
” and Dante, 1
Atlas, 98;
Mt. Atlas, 53
Augustine, St., 175, 238, 239, 479
Augustus, Emperor, 171, 175, 319, 359
Auriga (Charioteer), 144
Averroës, 184, 204, 232, 239, 246, 342, 432, 462
Avicenna, 202, 239, 247, 305
Babylon, 69, 80, 156, 181
Babylonia, 18, 36, 81
Babylonians, 36-38;
astronomers, 110, 125, 127, 144, 161
” and astronomy, 43-4
” ” calendar, 40 _et seq._
” ” cosmogony, 45, 46, 47, 48, 55, 57
” ” day division, 27
” ” eclipse records, 80, 81, 144
” ” gnomon, 26
” ” occultations of planets, 105
Bacon, Roger, 202, 249, 275, 292, 342, 343
Baghdad, 141-3, 181 _et seq._, 245, 432
” astronomers, 194-5
” observatory, 142 (_see also Arab Astronomers_)
Bartolommeo della Scala, 226, 227
Bear: Great, 12, 25, 36, 52, 56, 157, 187, 297-8, 334;
Little, 25, 56, 187, 297-98, 334
(_see also Ursa Major and Minor_)
Beatrice, 1, 253, 237, 284, 376, 390, 392, 394, 401, 441, 455, 473
” age of, 253, 288, 413-4
” death of, 224, 253, 254, 314, 316, 414
” Dante’s first meeting with, 253, 272, 273
” guiding Dante, 262, 330, 367, 373, 392, 393, 400, 401
” and Moon, 462, 475
” ” Sun, 271, 392
Beazley, _n._342, _n._384
Bede, 178, 250, 454
Belacqua, 376
Benet Naax, 187, 234
Benevento, 242
Benvenuto da Imola, 383, 418
Betelgeux, 155
Boccaccio, 224, 225, 228, 231, 274, 413, 414, 418, 422
Boëthius, 1, 177, 284, 296
Boffito, Prof., 423
Bologna, 199 _et seq._, 227, 277 (_see also Universities_)
Boötes, 52, 284, 298
Borneo, natives of, and gnomon, 26
British Astronomical Association, Journal of, _n._29, _n._34
” Museum, 36, 40
Brown, Robert, 24 _Note_, 32, _n._34, 35, 156
Brunetto Latini, 218, 225-6, 241-2, 248-9, 274-5, 292, _n._349,
369, 414, 470, 473, 481
Bull, _see Taurus_
Cacciaguida, 3, 313
Calendar, 29, 36, 47;
Ancient, 33, 34
” Arab, 39, 184
” Babylonian, 40, 41, 127
” Berber, Persian, Syrian, 184
” Chinese, 39
” Ecclesiastical, 176, 203
” Egyptian, 39, 184
” Greek, 161, 162, _n._172
” Hindu and Parsee, 127
” Julian, and Roman, 171, 176, 184, 274 _et seq._
” luni-solar, 176
” Mahomedan, 39
Calippus, 93, 107, 145, 162;
cycle, 172
Callisthenes, 80
Campaldino, 224
Cancer, 145, 174, 185, 269, 277, 280-2, 325, 394, 397
Can Grande della Scala, 416, 426, 441, 473
Canopus, 12, 67, 134, 155, 295
Canton, 27
Capella (star), 155
” Martianus, 170, 177
Capricornus, 33, 43, 144, 185, 277, 282, 325, 342, 360, 374
Carnac, 29
Casella, 374, 414, 426
Cassiodorus, 177
Cassiopeia, 12
Castor and Pollux, 43, 290, 333
Catalano, Friar, 227
Cato, 373-4
Cecco d’ Ascoli, 200, 216, 226, _n._227, 241-4, 249, 478
Celestial Movements, 9-20, 25, 28, 29, 38, 47, 56, 62, 65, 86,
102-3, 105, 136 _et seq._, 159, 174,
209, 248, 261-4, 299, 357, 367, 409, 429,
430, 432, 438, 457, 483, 487
” direct, 16, 147
” and Alfraganus, 185 _et seq._
” ” astrology, 211
” ” Brunetto Latini, 243
” ” tables of, 22, 23
” ” daily, 13
” ” retrograde, 16, 18, 44, 116, 147
Centaur, _n._36, 294;
Alpha Centauri, 155
Central Fire, 75, 85, 101, 102, 109, 159
Cetus, _n._36
Chalcidius, 238
Chaldea, 172
Charioteer, _see Auriga_
Charlemagne, 178, 182
Charles of Hungary, 256
Charles of Valois, 318
Chinese, and comets, 45;
gnomon, 20, 114;
year, 38;
zodiac, 29, 31
China, 291, 343
Christian Era, Introduction of, 177
Church, Catholic, 210, 216, 219, 335, 346-8, 410,
419, 431, 432, 480, 483;
and spheres, 433
Cicero, 1, 109, 167-8, 171, 217, 237-9
Cleanthes, 496
Cleomedes, 135, 457
Clepsydra, 27, 115, 122, 133, 141
Climates, 158, 186, 187, 247-8, 324, 347, 397
Clocks, pendulum, 16;
water, 27, 115 (_see also Clepsydra_)
Colure, 185, 403
Comets, 45, 66, 103, 174, 175, 176, 262,
318 _et seq._, 487, 490, 491
“Composizione del Mondo,” 244 _et seq._, 292
Conjunction, 24, 142, 191
“Consolations of Philosophy,” 1
Constantine, 262
Constantinople, 201
Constellations, 454;
ancient, 33, 34, 80
” Arab, 30, 188, 234
” Egyptian, 34;
Hebrew, 34;
Hindu, 30
” figures of, 115, 154-55, 168, 246, 248, 289, 443, 451
” influences of, 246, 451
” naming and origins of, 24 _Note_, 32, 33, 36, 47,
51, 80, 161
” southern, 246
” and Astrology, 211
“Convivio,” 255, 258, 357, 464, 466, 468, 476
Copernicus, 66, 111, 136, 210
Cordova, 183
Corona Borealis, 299
Corsica, 344, 383, 384
Corvino, 293, 343
Corvus, _n._36
Cosmas Indicopleustes, 175
Cosmogonies, Ancient, 45, 63, 160;
Babylonian, 45, 53, 57;
Egyptian, 45, 53, 83, 109;
Hebrew, 45, 47;
Hindu, 45;
Homeric, 53 do. of Anaximander 58-59;
Aristotle, 103;
Cosmas, 175;
Democritus, 63;
Eudoxus, 88;
Leucippus, 63;
Philolaus, 70;
Plato, 83;
Ptolemy, 150;
Pythagorean, 66-75;
Thales, 55, 56
Coulton, _n._212
Creation, 403, 411, 419
Crystal Spheres, 74, 159 (_see also Spheres_)
Cunizza, 415, 426, 472
Cycles, 45, 55
Cyprus, 102
Dante, birth of, 211, 273, 413, 426;
childhood, 223;
as Councillor, 224, 414;
as Prior, 224;
in exile, 224;
in Ravenna, 224, 273;
in Mantua, 444;
in Rome, 224, 318;
in Verona, 256, 444;
death, 165, 216, 224, 273
” studies, 223 _et seq._;
quoted, 25
” shadow of, in Purgatory, 374, 387-8
” wife of, 224-5
” and Alfraganus, 234, 254, 289, 449;
Asdente, 212
” ” Aristotle, 96, 102, 105, 235, 241, 254, 480, 482
” ” ancient writers, 57, 62, 70, 82, 86
” ” astrology, 261;
and astronomy, 25
” ” Brunetto Latini, 225, 226, 242
” ” Beatrice, 1, 273
” ” calendar, 274, 275
” ” Date of Vision, 357, 409 _et seq._
” ” Classical authors, 237 _et seq._
” ” Frederick II., 214
” ” Greek astronomy, 105, 262, 306
” ” philosophers, 461
” ” Homer, 209
” ” geography, 337, 339 _et seq._
” ” Jerusalem, 176
” ” Michael Scot, 215
” ” Milton, 210
” ” Moon, 265 _et seq._
” ” music of the Spheres, 455-6
” ” precession, 274 _et seq._, 439
” ” Philosophy, 255
” ” Ptolemy, 135, 154, 209, 232, 256, 458-9, 468
” ” Roman Empire, 167, 178
” ” science, 1, 219, 258
” ” the Acerba, 244
” ” stars, 283 _et seq._
” ” southern stars, 293-5
” ” universities, 226 _et seq._
“Dante e gli Astronomi Italiani,” _n._235, _n._315
Day, Arab, 253;
definitions of, 14, 22, 25, 26;
divisions of, 52, 161;
length of, 186;
sidereal, 12,
definition of, 22;
solar, 12;
Church, 348
Decimal Notation, introduced, 182
Declination, definition of, 126
“De Cœlo” (“On the Heavens”), of Aristotle, 96, _n._96, 105,
170, _n._232, 236, 431, 464
translations of, 214
“De Cœlo” of Albertus Magnus, _n._232, 342
Deferent, definition of, 138; 145, _n._149, 193
Degrees, invention of, 44
Delambre, _n._35, _n._126, 149, 156, _n._460
Della Lana, Jacopo, 418
Della Valle, _n._398
Del Virgilio, 227
Democritus, 64 _et seq._, 98, 239, 305
Denebola, 155
“De Substantia Orbis,” 184
Dicuil, 178
Dilgan, 40, 42, 127
Dionysius Exiguus, 177
” the Academician, 239
” ” Areopagite, 483
Direct Motion, 16
Divine Comedy, 237-8, 353, 402, 409
Dominicans, 204, 241
Domitian, 171
Dream of Scipio, 109, 169, 237
Dreyer, _n._460
Dupuis, 34
Earth, 393, 395, 398-401, 490, 491
” centre of, 353, 372, 424, 481
” ” of universe, 66, 75, 83, 84, 85, 88, 91, 96, 98, 99,
100, 109, 112, 120, 137, 160, 169, 185,
203, 205, 209, 219, 431, 444, 461, 489
” Counter-, _see_ Antichthon
” dimensions of, 71, 102, 117, 118, 134, 157, 160, 169,
182, 185, 186, 190, 216, 458, 487, 490
” distance from sun, 108, 189
” form of, 56, 59, 63, 66, 67-8, 71, 72, 83, 91,
96, 98, 100, 160, 175, 185, 186
” habitable part, 205, 247, 248, 335, 342, 353, 369, 372,
391, 397, 398, 436, 444, 446, 451, 487
” in equilibrium, 100
” measurement of, 103, 117, 134
” motion of, 17, 66, 70, 71, 85, 88, 99, 101, 142, 186;
” movement of, 431, 438
” resting on air, 63;
on water, 56, 98
” revolution round sun, 13, 66, 107, 109, 110, 120,
146, 159, 210, 256, 492
” rotation on axis, 13, 72, 75, 85, 88, 101, 108,
110, 136, 159, 210, 492
” shadow of, 67, 96, 191, 346, 459, 460
” spherical form of (_see also_ form of earth), 102, 209, 219,
237, 487
Earthly Paradise, _see_ Eden
Easter, 176, 177, 203, 275, 405, 418, 420, 422, 424
” year, 415
Ebn Jounis, 183
Eccentrics, 118, 119, 121, 141 _et seq._, 193, 210, 235
Eclipses, 18, 55, 57, 67, _n._76, 117, 168, 174, 175,
192, 203, 262, 255 _et seq._, 266, 465
” annular, 44
” Babylonian records, 80, 96, 113, 144
” lunar, 44, 45, 55, 67, 125, 185, 338, 340, 341, 469
” solar, 245, 338
Ecliptic, 18, 55, 117, 126, 129, 130, 145, 147, 185, 279,
312, 325, 330, 331, 333, 397, 403, 404, 476
Ecphantus, 75, 102
Eden, 205, 295, 296, 334, 349, 353, 394, 401, 453, 454
” Richard, 299
‘Egyptian System,’ 109, 120
” year, 38, 45
Egyptians (_also_ Egypt), 27, 28, 36, 45, 67
” astronomers, 55, 56, 105, 124, 125, 144
” astrology, 113, 120, 156
” astronomy, 34, 45, 46, 51, 80, 113, 184
” cosmogony, 45, 53, 55
” and Eudoxus, 66, 88, 100, 151
” ” Pythagoras, 67
” ” eclipses, 45
‘Elementa Astronomica,’ 184, 234, 253, 273, 313, 320, 347
” translations of, 234
Elements, The Four, 62, 83, 103, 236, 441 _et seq._, 461, 478
” ” creation of, 441
” ” and Aristotle, 236, 442
Ellipse, _n._94
Elongation, Greatest, E. and W., 142;
definition of, 15
Empedocles, 60, 62, 98, 369
Empyrean, 204, _n._232, 253, 296, 313, 353, 393, 401,
433, 440, 444, 462, 447, 484
Epicycles, def. of, 138 _et seq._, 121, _n._149, 187, 193, 194,
210, 235, 256, 314, 429, 435, 449, 457, 466, 483, 488, 492
” of Venus, 142, 435
Epping and Strassmeier, _n._36
Equator (celestial), 10 _et seq._, 18, 35, _n._35, 65, 115,
126, 130, 185, 323, 330, 334, 368, 383, 392,
397, 403, 404, 439, 448, 476
” terrestrial, 238, 246, 247, 322, 324, 329, 336, 337, 342
Equinox, 30, 124, 126, 274, 278, 282, 326, 330, 334, 340, 347,
348, 349, 354, 356, 368, 372, 383, 387, 392, 402-7,
410, 418, 420-3
” date of, 26, 176, 177, 185
” definition of, 12
” observation of, 39, 94, 116, 124, 125
” position of, _n._44, 185
” precession of, 23, 24, 35, 125, 133, 135, 137, 161, 193, 194,
232, 275, 287, 356, 384, 432, 435, 439, 483, 488
” and Alfraganus, 439
Eratosthenes, 117, 134, 240
Eridanus, (“The River”) _n._35, _n._36, 155, 156
Eridu, 46
Esdras, 342
Ether, 104, 110, 137, 159, 193, 433, 461, 466, 480, 488, 491
Ethiopia, 336;
Ethiopians, 53
Euclid, 118, 202
Euctemon, 93, 161
Eudoxus, 66 _et seq._, 34, 80, 235;
spheres of, 90, 106, 107, 109, 112, 113,
118, 123, 141, 159, 161, 170
” and Calippus, 93, 94;
and Egypt, 80, 100, 159;
and Plato, 81, 88, 159
Eunoe, 366, 390, 392
Evection, 147
Farinata, 413, 417
Fergil, 178
Filelfo, 471
Fire;
Central, 431;
sphere or region of, 58, 308, 442, 480, 487
First Mover, 106, 159, 204, 254, 444, 478, 483, 484, 489
Fishes (_see_ Pisces)
Florence, 1, 158, 201, 211, 215, 216, 224, 225, 226, 242, 283,
318, 345, 350, 406, 411-14, 417, 421, 471
Folco, 346, 459, 472
Fomalhaut, 155, 156
Forese, 367
Forest, The, 266, 358, 367, 369, 378, 386, 406
Francis, St., 271
Frederick II., 202, 213 _et seq._
Gades, 340, 345, 366, 395, 397
Galaxy, 61, 103, 115, 154, 168, 232, 239,
301, 303 _et seq._, 477
Galileo, 107, 210
Gallus, Sulpicius, 167
Ganges, 205, 340-5, 360, 365, 388, 397, 400
Gardner, E. G., 228
Gemini (_see also_ Twins), 43, 44, 145, 149, 273, 280-1, 290,
333, 366, 387, 393, 394, 397, _n._399, 404, 461, 473
Geminus, _n._93, 134
Genoa, 293
Geography, 240, 344;
Arab, 246, 247;
Alfraganus’, 186;
Ptolemy’s, 146, 157, 186
Geryon, 369
Ghibellines, 213, 227
Giambullari, 419
Giuliani, 280
Gnomon, defined, 13, 26, 28, 47, 56, 114, 116, 122, 125, 161
” introduced into Greece, 26
” and Babylonians, 26;
Chinese, 29, 114;
Borneo, 26
Goat, _see_ Capricorn
Golius, 235
Good Friday, 423-26
Gravity, 100, 137, 160, 169, 191, 237, 445, 447, 482, 493
Greek Astronomers and Astronomy, 27, 28, 36, 51 _et seq._, 112,
159, 168, 171, 172, 176, 178, 200, 204, 433, 446, 463, 495
Gruppe, _n._76
Guelfs, 413
Guido Bonatti, 213, 472
Guido Cavalcanti, 416, 426
Guido of Montefeltro, 213
Hades, 54
Hammurabi, 40
Haroun al Raschid, 182
He, and Ho, Chinese astronomers, 30
Heath, _n._75-76
Heaven, eighth, 366, 402, 475
” fourth, 284
” ninth, 233
” seventh, 284, 455
” third, 429, 483
” of fire, 58 (_see also_ fire)
” of Jupiter, 393
” of Mars, 303, 313, 393
” of Mercury, 332, 441
” of the Moon, 392, 431, 447, 455, 484
” of Saturn, 301, 393, 407
” of Stars, 288, 304, 393
” of the Sun, 240, 256, 272, 373, 381, 431
” of Venus, 256, 393, 429, 435, 459, 483
Heavens (_see also_ Star sphere), 58, 59, 67, 91, 209, 253,
254, 256, 262, 300, 393, 429, 431, 435, 484, 447
” influence of, 266
” revolution of, 9, 18, 20, 51, 57, 62, 63, 70, 74, 75, 82, 85,
88, 98, 102, 104, 108, 124, 136, 137, 185
(_see also_ Celestial motions)
Hebrew cosmogony, 46, 57;
year, 39
Heinrich of Mainz, 343, 384
Heliacal rising, 39, 40, 44, 45, 52, 191
Hell, 205, 353, 358, 367 to 371, 390, 423
Hemisphere, Southern, 286, 322, 329, 330, 334, 336,
339, 353, 407, 443, 447
Henry VII., Emperor, 271
Heracleides, 74, 75, 102, 109
Hercules, Pillars of, 34, 54, 103, 205, 340, 344, 345
Herodotus, 55
Hesiod, 51, 52, 161
Hesperus, 52
Hicetas, 74, 75
Hindu arithmetic, 182;
astronomy, 181;
calendar, 127;
constellations, 30;
cosmogony, 45;
zodiac, 30
Hindus and eclipses, 45
Hipparchus, 50, 122 _et seq._, 138, 143, 153, 189,
191, 193, 233, 240, 275, 287, 288, 432, 493
” Star Catalogue of, 123, 144, _n._188
” and Ptolemy, 133-5, 137, 143, 158
Homer, 34, 51, 52, 72
Horoscope, 173, 174, 201, 203, 216, 226
Hose, Dr., 27
Hours, Church, 347, 348;
“Equal,” 27, 347, 356;
“Temporary,” 27, 347, 356
Hyades, 43, 44
Hypatia, 163
Imbriani, _n._227, _n._414
India (_see also_ Hindu), 103, 111, 181, 339, 343
Inferno, 283, 307, 367 _et seq._, 409-10
” and Brunetto Latini, 226
” ” Michael Scot, 214
Instruments, astronomical, 13, 113, 133, 135, 182, 203, 218
Intelligences, 249, 483
Isaiah, 34, 175
Isidore, 178, 243, 250
Japanese, 38
Jerusalem, 157, 333, 339, 340, 345, 360, 373,
374, 388, 395, 397, 400, 401;
centre of earth, 176, 341, 343, 344, 353, 369;
latitude of, 387, 406
Jews, 25, 213, 216;
astrologer, 202;
astronomers, 203, 421
Job, 34
Johannes Hispalensis, _n._235
Jowett, _n._82
Jubilee year (1300 A.D.), 415
Julius Cæsar, 170, 175, 274
Jupiter, 16, 120, 141, 145, 150, 169, 189,
310, 311, 407, 418, 451, 491
” colour, 17, 311, 467, 473, 477;
dimensions, 488, 490
” period, 23, 69, 91, 109, 142, 436, 437
” and astrology, 174, 243, 468, 473, 476, 477
Justinian, 300
Kepler, _n._94
King, L. W., _n._37
Knobel, _n._30
Kugler, _n._35
Leo, 31, 43, 144, 155, 174, 290, 313, _n._399, 406,
407, 410, 411, 418, 420, 422, 423, 473, 476
Lethe, 390
Leucippus, 62, 63
Libra, 31, 185, 265, 278, 325, 365, 378, 380, 388
” and moon, 367, 379, 383, 384, 402, 406, 418
” and sun, 278, 323, 382
Lignières, De, Canons of, 202
“Libros de Saber,” 195
Lion, _see_ Leo
Lionardo Bruni, 223, 225, 236, 413
Livy, 238
Lockyer, Sir Norman, 29, 155
Lodestone (_see also_ magnet), 211, 291
Longfellow, _n._393
Longitude, 338, 339
Lucifer, 371, 372
Lubin, _n._236, _n._315
Lucan, 238, 239, 324, _n._330
Lucia (imaginary city), 323-27
” the lady, 380
Macrobius, 109
Magnet (_see also_ lodestone), 211, 291, 292, 443, 451
Mahaffy, _n._113
Mahomedans, 39, 209, 216
Malacoda, 370, _n._370, 410-12, 426
Malaspina, 278, 279, 473
Manfred, 242, 318, 376
Manilius, 168
Maps, 205, 343, 344, 384;
climate maps, 247, 248;
Greek maps, 247
Marco Lombardo, 479
Marco Polo, 293, 342
Mars, 3, 16, 17, 23, 69, 90, 93, 109, 112, 118, 120, 138,
150, 169, 173, 189, 248, 310, 321, 411, 418, 420,
451, 467, 468, 476, 488, 490
” colour of, 17;
dimensions, 488
” period, 436
” occultation of, 105, 310, 433
” sphere of, 477
” and astrology, 174, 243, 473, 477
Mathematics, 79, 81, 105, 107, 121, 135, 151, 184, 203
Matilda, 453
Maunder, E. W., 24 Note, 35, 127
Mediterranean, 395, 398
Mercury, 15, 16, 23, 69, 70, 91, 93, 109, 121, 142
_et seq._, 144, 169, 189, 245, 249, 309
_et seq._, 407, 418, 451, 467, 490
” diameter, 236;
dimensions, 458, 477, 488;
period, 436
” and astrology, 173
Meridian, 22, 26, 280, 338, 346, 349, 361, 365, 368,
371,387, 390, 394-7, _n._398, 439
Meroe, 118
Meteors, 61, 174, 239, 318, 319, 473, 476, 493;
meteorites, 490
Meteorology, 236
Meton, 93, 145, 161, 162, 172, 177, 419
Michael Scot, 213 _et seq._, 237, 306, 472
Milky Way, _see_ Galaxy
Milton, 66, 210, 420, 456
Mimnermus, 53
Montaperti, 242, 413
Month, Babylonian, 41;
Egyptian, 144;
Roman, 253;
Syrian, 253
” defined, 22, 30
” anomalistic, 23;
intercalary, 38, 170;
sidereal, 22, 30
” names of, 171
” synodic, 15, 20, 30, 52, 162, 163
” and moon, 266, 350, 436
Moon, 308, 402, 406, 407, 418, 419, 456, 469, 491
” apogee of, 449
” distance, 105, 108, 148 _et seq._, 150, 152, 160,
189 _et seq._, 488
” dimensions of, 56, 114, 152 _et seq._, 160,
188 _et seq._
” ecclesiastical, 419-422
” eclipses, 55
” epicycle, 449
” god, 37
” influence of, 237, 266, 450, 473, 489
” inhabited, 71
” mansions of, 30
” markings on, 61, 231, 248, 266, 269, 392, 393,
462 _et seq._, 469, 476
” movements of, 13, 14, 18, 29, 100, 105, 114, 117,
146 _et seq._, 219, 257, 264, 265,
339, 350, 383, 402 _et seq._
” orbit, 256
” perigee of, 448, 449
” nodes of, 147
” periods:—sidereal, 264, 436, 437;
synodic, 437
” phases of, 14, _n._76, 191, 264, 266, 469, 476;
full, 14, 264, 266, 367, 386, 371, 406, 410, 411, 419, 423;
gibbous, 264, 266;
half, 108, 446;
new, 14, 29, 40, 52, 264
” positions of, 402
” rising, 14, 263, 266, 350
” ” in Purgatory, 363, 378-80, 389
” setting, 14, 263, 265, 350, 367, 369
” ” in Purgatory, 380
” sphere of, 169, 308, 449, 465, 477, 484, 487
” substance, 55, 71, 114, 463 _et seq._, 494
” waning, 262, 266, 380
” worship of, 25
” and astrology, 173, 174, 249, 268, 407,
419, 450, 472 _et seq._
” ” Dante, 261 _et seq._
” ” Mars, 310, 433
” ” month, 13, 14, 15, 28, 30, 38, 41, 52, 171
” ” sun, balancing, 265;
contrasted, 268
” ” tides, 189 _et seq._, 237, 445
” ” time, 266, 349, 367, 369, 370, 406, 419, 488
” ” zodiac, 265
Moore, Dr. E., 236, _n._236, _n._237, 308, _n._326, _n._330,
334, _n._340, _n._380, 384, _n._411, _n._415,
419, 448, _n._452, _n._469, 471, _n._471
Moors, 201, 203, 214
Morning Star, 312, 314, 373, 410, 420, 421, 422, 470, 477
Morocco, 340, 361
Motion, Law of, 93, 100, 121, 159, 480
Movers, _see_ First Mover, and Spheres
Mulmul, 41
Music of the Spheres, 67, 104
Nabonassar, 144
Naples, 240
Nasir-ed-din, 195
Nestorians, 181, 182, 209
Nero, 171
Newton, 100, 481
Nineveh, 34, 44
Night personified, 278
Nino, 378, 416, 426
Nile, 344
Nones, 219, 348
Observatories, Alexandria, 113, 116, 135;
Baghdad, 182;
Greenwich, 153;
Pekin, 114;
Persian, 195;
The Cape, 153;
of Eudoxus, 88;
of Hipparchus, 122
“Observatory, The,” _n._24, 34
“On the Heavens,“ _see_ De Cælo
Occultations, 105, 145
Omons, 218
Opposition, defined, 174, 119, 141
Orion, 12, 36, 52, 155
Orosius, 240, 341, 343, 384, 438
Ottimo, 273, 418, _n._473
Ovid, 168, 238, 239, 297, 305
Padua, 227
Paradise (_see also_ Eden), Earthly, 285, 295, 344, 345, 353,
366, 373, 385, 390, _n._391, _n._399, 401, 482
Paradise Lost, 210
Parallax, 153, 191
Paris, 158, 201, 204;
University, 154, 228, 241, 242
Parmenides, _n._76, 428
Parsis, 127
Pekin, 114, 116
Pericles, _n._61
Perigee, 23, 119, 148, 150, 448-51
Persia, 209
Petrarch, _n._332
Phaëton, 303, 333
“Phainomena,” of Aratus, 32, 35
Philolaus, 70, 85, 431
Philosophy, 255, 281, 314, 315, 346
Phœnicians, 25, 56
Phosphor, 68, 80
Piccarda, 300
Pietro d’ Abano, 342
Pinches, T. C., 48
Pisces (_see also_ Fishes), 32, 129, 138, 290, 295, 307, 309, 359,
360, 368, 370, 373, _n._380, 383, 385, _n._399,
403, 406, 407, 410, 411, 418, 420, 423, 494-95
Planets, defined, 16, 45, 52, 58, 60, 63, 65, 68, 70, 79, 219, 254,
257, 269, 279, 289, 307 _et seq._, 312,
_n._399, 419, 461, 466, 468, 488, 494-95
” aspects of, 200, 476
” astrology and, 173-4, 211, 219, 243, 249, 405
” distances of, 150, 189, 194
” houses of, 174, 476, _n._473
” influences of, 254, 472, 473, 474
” movements of, 15, 16, 29, 44, 58, 68, 69, 70, 79, 80,
88-90, 104, 118, 123, 138, 159, 248, 312,
330, 331
” names of, 80, 83
” nature of, 461
” periods of, 23, 29, 69, 83, 89, 91, 100, 109,
141, 219, 313, 436
” positions of, 402 _et seq._, 419
” shadows cast by, _n._280
” varying velocity of, 94, _n._94
” and the sciences, 312
Plato, 80 _et seq._, 85, 91, 98, 101, 104, 159, 217, 238,
239, 313, 431, 444, 462, 479, 482, 483
Pleiades, 28, 29, 35, 40, 52, 155
” and Australian legend, 28
” ” Tahitan natives, 28
Pliny, 50, 123, 170, 342
Plunkett, Miss, 34
Plutarch, 85, 107, 137, 463
Pole, celestial, 12, 18, 51, 65, 105, 157, 185, 186, 187, 286,
287, 289, 297, 302, 323, 335, 434, 439, 477;
north, 373;
south, 286, 292, 293, 335, 373, 378, 489
” terrestrial, 247, 322;
north, 323, 370;
south, 323
Pole star, 9, 67, 127, 291, 323
Popes, 276, 316;
Boniface VIII., 415, 416;
Gregory IX., 213;
Honorarius II., 214;
Urban IV., 318, 413
Poseidonius, 134, 157, 170, 240
Precession of Equinoxes, _see_ Equinox
Prickard, _n._463
Primum Mobile, 194, 204, 210, 299, _n._232, 291, 308, 313, 381,
400, 401, 432-434, 436, 440, 451, 455, 456, 477, 484
Proclus, 170
Proctor, R. A., _n.24_, 34, 35
Procyon, 155, 187
Ptolemy, 5, 24 _n.24 n._34, 134 _et seq._, 154,
156, 160, 163, 170, 178, 182, 186, 202, 209, 210, 218,
242, 245, 261, 275, 288, 290, 291, 305, 333, 350
” Almagest, 113, 115, 123, 182, 184, 201
” dimensions of earth, 182;
of heavenly bodies, 191
” geography of, 157, 205, 337, 341
” quoted, 134
” system of, 381, 431, 432, 491
” ” ” epicycles, 256, 315
” works by, 156, 157, 182
” and Apollonius, 118
” ” Aristarchus, 107
” ” Arabs, 147, 152, 183, 188, 192-4
” ” colure, 403
” ” Dante, 232, 235, 239, 459, 468
” ” eclipses, 338;
and ecliptic, 185
” ” Hipparchus, 126, 133, 143, 146
” ” moon, 146, 448, 449
” ” precession, 187, 193, 432
” ” Regulus, 406
” ” stars, 292, 294, 339
” ” Venus, 315
Ptolemy Philadelphus, 144
” Ptolemies, Royal, 113
Purgatory, 105, 205, 295, 345, 360, 367, 370, 372, 373,
390, 401, 407, 453, 454
” gate of, 362, 380, 385, 453
” latitude of, 286, 353, 387
” Mountain of, 105, 262, 286, 295, 311, 312, 332-5, 353,
360 _et seq._, 373, 375, 378, 381, 382,
385, 386, 388, 390, 452, 453, 455
Pyramids, 45, 81, 127
Pythagoras, 66 _et seq._, 236, 238, 302, 431
Pythagoreans, 62, 66 _et seq._, 75, _n._76, 79, 85, 88,
91, 96, 100, 101, 102, 104, 110, 111, 304, 490
Quadrivium, 177
‘Quæstio de Aqua et Terra,’ 256, 258, 340, 444, 452
Ram (_see_ Aries), 279
Ravenna, _n._227, 273
Regulus, 43, 144, 155, 187, 290, 406, 411, 420
Retrograde Motion, 16
Rhodes, 67, 122, 134, 158
Rigel, 155
Ristoro, 217, 241 _et seq._, 257, 268, 274, 292, 288, 300,
328, 329, 444, _n._451, 464, _n._478
” and comet, 318;
constellations, 443, 451;
eclipses, 317;
ecliptic, 331;
habitable earth, 446;
meteors, 319
Rizzacasa d’Orsogna, Prof., 400
Rome, 111, 157, 241, 316, 319, 323, 345, 383, 385, 396, 415
” Church of, influence on astronomy, 175, 178
” Empire of, 262;
influence on astronomy, 138, 167, 172, 178
Rome, and calendar, 172, 175
Rubruquis, Friar, 342
Sacrobosco, 202, 249
Sagittarius, 279, 281, 290, 380, 383, 385
St. Bernard, 312, 354, 401
St. John, 282, 317
St. Louis, King, 342
St. Paul, 32, 483
St. Peter, 396, 468
Salimbene, 212
Saracens, 214
Sardinia, 344, 364, 383, 384
Saturn, 16, 23, 69, 91, 105, 109, 120, 141, 169, 189, 279, 281,
311, 364, 389, 393, _n._398, 406, 407, 410, 411, 417,
420, 422, 423, 450, 456, 468, 469, 490
” dimensions, 488;
movements, 311;
period, 436
Scales, _see_ Libra
Scartazzini, 379, _n._455
Schiaparelli, _n._35, _n._39, _n._236
Schwary, 34
Scipio, 168-69, 393;
Dream of, 168, 237
Scorpio, 30, 31, 43, 365, 378, 379, 380, 383, 384, 385,
387, 405, 476, 489
Seleucus, 110
Seneca, 66, 169, 174, 237, 239, 342, 473;
and meteors, 319
Shakespear, 456
Sheol, 46
Sigieri, 228
Simplicius, 90, 170
Sirius, 39, 52, 67, 115, 155, 187
Socrates, 82, 83, 239
Solstice, definition of, 11, 26, 29, 107, 117, 127, 185, 277, 394
Sordello, 378, 382
Sosigines, 171
Southern Cross, 12, 156, 294
Spain, 339-42, 388
Spheres, 9, 57, 58, 62, 65, 68, 83, 84, 104, 137, 169, 184, 187,
204, 219, 249, 254, 257, 262, 302, 358, 392, 393,
_n._399, 429 _et seq._, 444, 452, 457,
473, 478, 418
” crystalline, 433
” eighth sphere, 466
” elevating power of, 443
” homocentric, 112
” influence of, 239, 249, 254, 478, 479, 485, 488, 494
” movement of, 395, 400, 453
” movers of, 106, 159, 204, 254, 400, 482, 483, 484, 496
” music of, 67, 68, 104, 169, 302, 392, 455, 456
” ninth, 432-3
” sky as a, 51
” substance of, 95, 104, 193, 433, 461
” ‘unrolling,’ 95, 102, 106
” of air, 442, 452
” of Eudoxus, 88, 89, 94, 106, 107, 112
” of fire, 103, 159, 308, 392, 442, 453, 455, 490
” of moon, 103, 308, 477
” of sun, 88, 93, 253
” of stars, 13, 67, 70, 72, 89, 94, 95, 96, 109, 129, 137,
152, 160, 187, 253, 313, 356, 433, 437, 438,
456, 476, 477
” of water, 442, 443
” and Arabs, 194
” ” Roger Bacon, 118, 202
” ” time, 401
Spica, 124-6, 130, 155
Stars, 219, 283 _et seq._, 489, 402, 493-94
” brightness of, 123, 154, 187
” catalogues, 123, 133, 144, 154, 187, 288;
Abu Hazan’s, 184;
Hipparchus’, 188;
Ptolemy’s, 187
” Dante’s ‘quindici stelle,’ 155
” dimensions of, 190, 488
” globes, 115
” distance of, 17, 108, 153, _n._190, 488, 492-93
” influence of, 211, 254, 256, 443, 450, 473, 475,
478, 479, 488
” magnitudes of, 154, 187, 188, 234, 289, 299, 488;
first-magnitude, 154, 187
” movements of, 9, 51, 52, 83, 84, 86, 97, 136, 187, 284, 286,
287, 289, 301, 354, 424, 495, 496
” new, 123
” number of, 123, 187, 288, 477, 495
” Pole, 291, 299
” positions of, 42, 123, 126, 193
” shooting, 103, 185, 262, 301, 319, 487, 490
” southern, 283, 293, 373, 378, 489
” substance of, 103, 104, 136
” worship of, 37, 38, 51
” and human souls, 86
” ” Milky Way, 103
” ” time, 257, 285, 289, 367, 488
Stationary points, 16, 44, 121
Statius, 385-7, 453
Stilbon, 80
Stoics, 112, 134, 463
Stobæus, 107
Stonehenge, 29
Strabo, 170, 240
Styx, 54
Sumerians, 36, 38;
year, 38
Sun, boat of, 45, 46
” brightness of, 270, 282, 462, 477, 488, 469
” centre of universe, 101, 110
” dimensions of, 56, 110, 146, 153, 188, 457-8, 469, 488, 491
” distance of, 108, 146, 153, 189, 193, 457-8
” door of, 46
” god, 37, 48, 54
” heaven of, _see_ Heavens
” Lake of, 54
” movements of, 10, 13, 39, 53, 55, 62, 115, 116, 120, 145, 146,
185, 187, 247, 256, 272-4, 276, 322 _et seq._,
338, 346, 349, 390-2, 402, 403
” perigee of, 448
” period of, 436
” positions of, during Vision, 402 _et seq._
” rise, 10, 13, 14, 25, 28, 54, 267, 270, 271, 273, 339, 346,
348, 356, _n._356, 406
” rise in Forest, 354, 358, 367, 369
” ” in Purgatory, 271, 360, 362, 363, 364, 366,
374, 385, 389, 406
” set, 10, 13, 14, 48, 253, 262, 271, 273, 279, 280, 282, 294,
339, _n._336, 350, 356, 383, 385
” ” in Purgatory, 271, 361, 363 to 366, 378, 382, 388
” source of all light, 470, 477, 488
” worship of, 25, 37, 45
” and astrology, 173, 473, 477
” ” comets, 103
” ” Dante, 267, 270 _et seq._
” ” stars, 254, 470, 477
” ” time, 219, 254, 257, 349, 367, 372, 488
Sundial, 27, 115, 158, 182, 192, 219
Syene, 117, 156
Sylvester II., 203
Synodic revolution, 22, 30
‘Syntaxis’ (_see_ Almagest), _n._125,
136, 157, 182, 193, 209
Tabit ben Korrah, 194
Tables:—
” Alfonsine, 195, 202, 203, 242, 275, 341;
astronomical, 203, 242, 245;
Greek, 117;
Hakemite, 183;
Toledo, 184, _n._202, 421
” of constellations, 31, 154;
Days of the Vision, and positions of sun, etc., 425;
Ptolemy’s first-magnitude stars, 155;
planetary distances and dimensions, 189;
positions of sun and moon, 190;
planetary periods, 91, 436;
planets in zodiac, 325;
revolutions of sun, moon, and planets, 22, 23;
time references in the Divine Comedy, 358-66
Tartarus, 54
Taurus, _n._35, 43, _n._43, 144, 148, 149,
365, 387, 399, 403, 410, 422
“Tesoretto,” 226, 242
“Tetrabiblios,” 156, 233, 234
Thales, 50, 55 _et seq._, 60, 61, _n._76, 98, 238, 239, 297
Theon of Alexandria, 163
Theon of Smyrna, 135, 144
Tides, 134, 257, 445
Tierce, 220, 347, 348, 372
Timæus, 82, 101, 238
Time, measurement of, 25, 47, 84, 86, 161, 162, 170, 186
Thule, 157
Timocharis, 124, 125, 144
Toledo, 202, 213
” tables of, 184, _n._202, 421
Toynbee, Paget, _n._225, _n._236, _n._241, _n._417,
_n._437, _n._464
Tozer, H. F., _n._476
Trepidation, 194, _n._232-3
“Trèsor, Li Louvres dou,” 218, 226, 243
Trigonometry, spherical, 113, 123, 153, 183;
invention of, 133
Trivium and Quadrivium, 177, 261, 312
Twins, _see also_ Gemini, 279, 400
Tycho Brahè, 120
Ulysses, 51, 52, 292, 335, 340, 370, 395
Universe (_see_ Cosmogonies), 97;
dimensions, 390, 459;
of Dante, 257, 258, 353 _et seq._, 489
Universities, Bologna, 199, 216, 226, 227, 241, 478;
mediæval, 199 _et seq._;
Naples 240;
Padua, 227;
Paris, 199, 213, 228, 241;
Oxford, 199, 213;
Rome, 241
Ur, 37
Urban IV., 201
Ursa, Major, (_see also_ Bear, and Wain), 234,
295 _et seq._, 322, 368
” Minor, 234, 297, _n._299
Varaha Mihira, _n._111
Vega, 155, 187
Venturi, 453
Venus, 3, 15, 17, 23, 69, 80, 90, 93, 109, 112, 121, 144, 150, 169,
279, 281, 286, 300, 307, 309, 314, 373, 389, _n._399,
406-11, 418-25, 481-66
” dimensions, 488
” distance, 458 _et seq._
” goddess of, 38
” movements of, 314, 315, 435, 477
” movers of, 483
” phases of, 492
” period of, 314, 315, 436
” and astrology, 173, 189, 472, 477
” as evening star, 52, 142
” as morning star, 15, 52, 64, 68, 142
Verona, 226, 256, 444
Vespers, 219, 348
Villani, 213, 223, 226, 319
Virgil, 167, 168, 239, 271, 328, 374, 381, 441
” quoted, 173, 279
” works of, 238
” as guide, 286, 354, 367, 371, 387, 409, 481
” and sun, 271, 333, 381, 392
Virgin, Virgo, 12, 32, 124, 141, 144, 290, 384, 418
Vision, date of Dante’s, 357, 407 _et seq._;
duration of 354-7, 401
‘Vita Nuova,’ 253, 257, 411, 432
Wain, The (_see also_ Bear), 293, 295, 359, 368, 373
Wellhausen, _n._39
Wicksteed, P. H., _n._277, 306, 447
World-soul, 98, 159
Xenophanes, 98
Yaou, Emperor, 29;
Canon of, 38
Year, 253;
definition of, 23
” Arab, 39;
Babylonian, 40, 128, 161;
Chinese, 38;
Egyptian, 39, 45;
Hebrew, 39;
Greek, 161, 162, _n._172;
Mahomedan, 39;
Persian, 313;
Roman, 170;
Sumerian, 38
” civil, 22;
luni-solar, 38, 39, 93;
lunar, 39;
sidereal, 22, 128;
solar, 22, 56, 128, 163;
tropical, 22, 129, 161, 162, 171, 193, 274, 275
” leap, 171, 276
” length of, 187, 274
” and Hipparchus, 128, 135
Ziggurat, 37
Zodiac, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 23, 28, 30, 31, 43, _n._43,
69, 119, 143, 185, 265, 272, 278, 280, 289, 300, 309, 311,
333, 349, 382, 384, 402, 405, 448, 470, 488
” age of, 34
” Chinese and Hindu, 29, 30
” constellations of, 31, 42, 43, 47, 129, 219, 248,
290, 356, 368, 402, 476
” lunar, 30
” signs of, 129, 174, 185, 186, 245, 329,
356, 368, 379, 383, 402
” sun in, 276, 282
” and months, 276, 281, 282
Zodiacal revolutions, 23
Zoroaster, 218