sit ratio totius partium those Countreys being a part of the Earth as well as ours they must of necessity be alterable as these are SALV And why have you not without being put to believe other mens relations examined and observed those alterations with your own eyes SIMPL. Because those places besides that they are not exposed to our eyes are so remote that our sight cannot reach to comprehend therein such like mutations SALV See now how you have unawares discovered the fallacy of your Argument for if you say that the alterations that are seen on the Earth neer at hand cannot by reason of the too great distance be seen in America much lesse can you see them in the Moon which is so many hundred times more remote And if you believe the alterations in Mexico upon the report of those that come from thence what intelligence have you from the Moon to assure you that there is no such alterations in it Therefore from your not seeing any alterations in Heaven whereas if there were any such you could not see them by reason of their too great distance and from your not having intelligence thereof in regard that it cannot be had you ought not to argue that there are no such alterations howbeit from the seeing and observing of them on Earth you well argue that therein such there are SIMPL. I will shew so great mutations that have befaln on the Earth that if any such had happened in the Moon they might very well have been observed here below We find in very antient records that heretofore at the Streights of Gibraltar the two great Mountains Abila and Calpen were continued together by certain other lesse Mountains which there gave check to the Ocean but those Hills being by some cause or other separated and a way being opened for the Sea to break in it made such an inundation that it gave occasion to the calling of it since the Mid-land Sea the greatness whereof considered and the divers aspects the surfaces of the Water and Earth then made had it been beheld afar off there is no doubt but so great a change might have been discerned by one that was then in the Moon as also to us inhabitants of the Earth the like alterations would be perceived in the Moon but we find not in antiquity that ever there was such a thing seen therefore we have no cause to say that any of the Coelestial bodies are alterable c. SALV That so great alterations have hapned in the Moon I dare not say but for all that I am not yet certain but that such changes might occur and because such a mutation could onely represent unto us some kind of variation between the more clear and more obscure parts of the Moon I know not whether we have had on Earth observant Selenographers who have for any considerable number of years instructed us with so exact Selenography as that we should confidently conclude that there hath no such change hapned in the face of the Moon of the figuration of which I find no more particular description than the saying of some that it represents an humane face of others that it is like the muzle of a Lyon and of others that it is Cain with a bundle of thorns on his back therefore to say Heaven is unalterable because that in the Moon or other Coelestial bodies no such alterations are seen as discover themselves on Earth is a bad illation and concludeth nothing SAGR. And there is another odd kind of scruple in this Argument of Simplicius running in my mind which I would gladly have answered therefore I demand of him whether the Earth before the Mediterranian inundation was generable and corruptible or else began then so to be SIMPL. It was doubtless generable and corruptible also before that time but that was so vast a mutation that it might have been observed as far as the Moon SAGR. Go to if the Earth was generable and corruptible before that Inundation why may not the Moon be so likewise without such a change Or why should that be necessary in the Moon which importeth nothing on Earth SALV It is a shrewd question But I am doubtfull that Simplicius a little altereth the Text of Aristotle and the other Peripateticks who say they hold the Heavens unalterable for that they see therein no one star generate or corrupt which is probably a less part of Heaven than a City is of the Earth and yet innumerable of these have been destroyed so as that no mark of them hath remain'd SAGR. I verily believed otherwise and conceited that Simplicius dissembled this exposition of the Text that he might not charge his Master and Consectators with a notion more absurd than the former And what a folly it is to say the Coelestial part is unalterable because no stars do generate or corrupt therein What then hath any one seen a Terrestrial Globe corrupt and another regenerate in its place And yet is it not on all hands granted by Philosophers that there are very few stars in Heaven less than the Earth but very many that are much bigger So that for a star in Heaven to corrupt would be no less than if the whole Terrestrial Globe should be destroy'd Therefore if for the true proof of generation and corruption in the Universe it be necessary that so vast bodies as a star must corrupt and regenerate you may satisfie your self and cease your opinion for I assure you that you shall never see the Terrestrial Globe or any other integral body of the World to corrupt or decay so that having been beheld by us for so many years past they should so dissolve as not to leave any footsteps of them SALV But to give Simplicius yet fuller satisfaction and to reclaim him if possible from his error I affirm that we have in our age new accidents and observations and such that I question not in the least but if Aristotle were now alive they would make him change his opinion which may be easily collected from the very manner of his discoursing For when he writeth that he esteemeth the Heavens inalterable c. because no new thing was seen to be begot therein or any old to be dissolved he seems implicitely to hint unto us that when he should see any such accident he would hold the contrary and 〈◊〉 as indeed it is meet sensible experiments to natural reason for had he not made any reckoning of the senses he would not then from the not seeing of any sensible mutation have argued immutability SIMPL. Aristotle deduceth his principal Argument à priori shewing the necessity of the inalterability of Heaven by natural manifest and clear principles and then stablisheth the same à posteriori by sense and the traditions of the antients SALV This you speak of is the Method he hath observed in delivering his Doctrine but I do not bethink it yet to be that wherewith he
not moved through ignorance of the Arguments on the Adverse part 110 Copernicans were all first against that Opinion but the Peripateticks were never on the other side 110 Copernicans too freely admit certain Propositions for true which are doubtful 159 He that will be a Copernican must deny his Senses 228 A Great Mathematician made a Copernican by looking into that Doctrine with a purpose to confute it 443 COPERNICUS Copernicus esteemeth the Earth a Globe like to a Planet 1 Objections of two Moderne Authours Scheiner and Claramontius against Copernicus 195 Copernicus his Opinion overthrows the Criterium of Phylosophers 223 A grosse Errour in the Opposer of Copernicus and wherein it appears 234 235 236 A subtle and withal simple Argument against Copernicus 234 Copernicus his Opponent had but little studied him as appears by another grosse Errour 235 It s questioned whither he understood the third Motion assigned to the Earth by Copern 236 Copernicus erroneously assignes the same Operations to different Natures 238 A declaration of the improbability of Copernicus his Opinion 301 Reason and Discourse in Copernicus and Aristarchus prevailed over Sense 301 Copernicus speaketh nothing of the small Variation of Bignesse in Venus and Mars 302 Copernicus perswaded by Reasons contrary to Sensible Experiments 306 Copernicus restored Astronomy upon the Suppositions of Ptolomy 308 What moved Copernicus to establish his Systeme 308 It s a great argument in favour of Copernicus that he obviates the Stations and Retrogradations of the Motions of the Planets 309 Instances Ironically propounded by Scheiner against Copernicus 323 Copernicus understood not some things for want of Instruments 338 The grand difficulty in Copernicus his Doctrine is that which concerns the Phaenomena of the Sun and fixed Stars 343 Copernicus the Restorer of the Pythagorean Hypothesis and the Occasion of it 429 Copernicus founded not his Doctrine on Reasons depending on Scripture wherein he might have mistaken their Sense but upon Natural Conclusions and Astronomical and Geometrical Demonstrations 431 CORRUPTIBLE and Corruptibility The perfection of Figure operates in Corruptible Bodies but not in Eternal 69 The Disparagers of Corruptibility ought to be turned into Statua's 37 Corruptibility admits of more and lesse so doth not Incorruptibility 69 COUNCILS The Councils refuse to impose Natural Conclusions as matters of Faith 450 D DIAMONDS Diamonds ground to divers sides and why 63 DIDACUS Didacus à Stunica reconcileth Texts of Scripture with the Copernican Hypothesis 468 DEFINITIONS Definitions contain virtually all the Passions of the things defined 87 E EARTH The Earth Spherical by the Conspiration of its parts to go to its Centre 21 It is easier to prove the Earth to move than that Corruptibility is made by Contraries 27 The Earth very Noble by reason of the Mutations made therein 45 The Earth unprofitable and full of Idlenesse its Alterations being taken away 45 The Earth more Noble than Gold and Jewels 45 The Celestial Bodies designed to serve the Earth need no more but Motion and Light 45 The Generations and Mutations that are in the Earth are all for the Good of Man 47 From the Earth we see more than half the Lunar Globe 51 Seven Resemblances between the Earth and Moon 48 to 53 The Earth unable to reflect the Suns Rays 54 The Earth may reciprocally operate on Celestial Bodies with its Light 80 Affinity between the Earth and Moon by reason of their Vicinity 81 The Motions of the Earth imperceptible to its Inhabitants 97 The Earth can have no other Motions than those which to us appear commune to all the rest of the Vniverse the Earth excepted 97 The Diurnal Motion seemeth commune to all the Vniverse the Earth onely excepted 97 Aristotle and Ptolomy argue against the Earths Diurnal Motion 97 The Diurnal Motion of the Earth Vide Diurnal Motion Seven Arguments to prove the Diurnal Motion On to belong to the Earth 99 to 103 The Earth a pendent Body and equilibrated in a fluid Medium seems unable to resist the Rapture of the Diurnal Motion 103 Two kinds of Arguments against the Earths Motion 108 Arguments of Aristotle Ptolomy Tycho and other persons against the Earths Motion 107 108 The first Argument against the Earths Motion taken from Grave Bodies falling from on high to the Ground 108 Which Argument is confirmed by the Experiment of a Body let fall from the Round-top of a Ships Mast. 108 The second Argument taken from a Project shot very high 108 The third Argument taken from the Shot of a Canon towards the East and towards the West 108 This Argument is confirmed by two Shots towards the North and South and two others towards the 〈…〉 West 109 The fourth Argument taken from the Clouds and from Birds 113 A fifth Argument taken from the Aire which we feel beat upon us when we run an Horse at full speed 114 A sixth Argument taken from the whirling of Circular Bodies which hath a faculty to extrude and dissipate 114 The Answer to Aristotles first Argument 115 The Answer to the second Argument 117 The Answer to the third Argument 120 to 150 An Instance of the Diurnal Motion of the Earth taken from the Shot of a Piece of Ordinance perpendicularly and the Answers to the same shewing the Equivoke 153 154 The Answer to the Argument of the Shots of Canons made towards the North and South 158 The Answer to the Argument taken from the Shots at point blank towards the East and West 159 The Answer to the Argument of the flying of Birds contrary to the Motion of the Earth 165 An Experiment by which alone is shewn the Nullity of all the Arguments produced against the Motion of the Earth 165 The Stupidity of some that think the Earth began to move when Pythagoras began to affirme that it did so 167 A Geometrical Demonstration to prove the Impossibility of Extrusion by means of the Earths Vertigo in Answer to the sixth Argument 176 Granting the Diurnal Vertigo of the Earth and that by some sudden Stop or Obstacle it were Arrested Houses Mountains themselves and perhaps the whole Globe would be shaken in pieces 190 Other Argument of two Modern Authours Scheiner and. Claramontius against the Copernican Hypothesis of the Earths Motion 195 The first Objection of the Modern Authour Scheiner in his Book of Conclusions 195 The Argument of Claramontius against the Earths Motion taken from things falling perpendicularly another way answered 223 The Earths Motion collected from the Stars 229 Argumeuts against the Earths Motion taken ex rerum natura 230 A Simple Body as the Earth cannot move with three several Motions 231 The Earth cannot move with any of the Motions assigned it by Copernicus 231 Answers to the Arguments against the Earths Motion token ex rerum natura 231 Four Axiomes against the Motion of the Earth 230 to 232 One onely Principle might cause a Plurality of Motions in the Earth 233 The same Argument against the Plurality of Motions in the
the case is impossible it being clear by the Demonstrations of Aristotle that the coelestial Bodies are impassible impenetrable unpartable c. I answer that none of the conditions whereby Aristotle distinguisheth the Coelestial Bodies from Elementary hath other foundation than what he deduceth from the diversity of the natural motion of those and these insomuch that it being denied that the circular motion is peculiar to Coelestial Bodies and affirmed that it is agreeable to all Bodies naturally moveable it is behoofull upon necessary consequence to say either that the attributes of generable or ingenerable alterable or unalterable partable or unpartable c. equally and commonly agree with all worldly bodies namely as well to the Coelestial as to the Elementary or that Aristotle hath badly and erroneously deduced those from the circular motion which he hath assigned to Coelestial Bodies SIMPL. This manner of argumentation tends to the subversion of all Natural Philosophy and to the disorder and subversion of Heaven and Earth and the whole Universe but I believe the Fundamentals of the Peripateticks are such that we need not fear that new Sciences can be erected upon their ruines SALV Take no thought in this place for Heaven or the Earth neither fear their subversion or the ruine of Philosophy As to Heaven your fears are vain for that which you your self hold unalterable and impassible as for the Earth we strive to enoble and perfect it whilst we make it like to the Coelestial Bodies and as it were place it in Heaven whence your Philosophers have exiled it Philosophy it self cannot but receive benefit from our Disputes for if our conceptions prove true new Discoveries will be made if false the first Doctrine will be more confirmed Rather bestow your care upon some Philosophers and help and defend them for as to the Science it self it cannot but improve And that we may return to our purpose be pleased freely to produce what presents it self to you in confirmation of that great difference which Aristotle puts between the Coelestial Bodies and the Elementary parts of the World in making those ingenerable incorruptible unalterable c. and this corruptible alterable c. SIMPL. I see not yet any need that Aristotle hath of help standing as he doth stoutly and strongly on his feet yea not being yet assaulted much less foiled by you And what ward will you choose in this combate for this first blow Aristotle writeth that whatever is generated is made out of a contrary in some subject and likewise is corrupted in some certain subject from a contrary into a contrary so that observe corruption and generation is never but onely in contraries If therefore to a Coelestial Body no contrary can be assigned for that to the circular motion no other motion is contrary then Nature hath done very well to make that exempt from contraries which was to be ingenerable and incorruptible This fundamental first confirmed it immediately followeth of consequence that it is inaugmentable inalterable impassible and finally eternal and a proportionate habitation to the immortal Deities conformable to the opinion even of all men that have any conceit of the Gods He afterwards confirmeth the same by sense in regard that in all times past according to memory or tradition we see nothing removed according to the whole outward Heaven nor any of its proper parts Next as to the circular motion that no other is contrary to it Aristotle proveth many ways but without reciting them all it is sufficiently demonstrated since simple motions are but three to the medium from the medium and about the medium of which the two right sursum and deorsum are manifestly contrary and because one onely hath onely one for contrary therefore there rests no other motion which may be contrary to the circular You see the subtle and most concluding discourse of Aristotle whereby he proveth the incorruptibility of Heaven SALV This is nothing more save the pure progress of Aristotle by me hinted before wherein besides that I affirm that the motion which you attribute to the Coelestial Bodies agreeth also to the Earth its illation proves nothing I tell you therefore that that circular motion which you assign to Coelestial Bodies suiteth also to the Earth from which supposing that the rest of your discourse were concludent will follow one of these three things as I told you a little before and shall repeat namely either that the Earth it self is also ingenerable and incorruptible as the Coelestial bodies or that the Coelestial bodies are like as the Elementary generable alterable c. or that this difference of motion hath nothing to do with Generation and Corruption The discourse of Aristotle and yours also contain many Propositions not to be lightly admitted and the better to examine them it will be convenient to reduce them to the most abstracted and distinct that can be possible and excuse me Sagredus if haply with some tediousness you hear me oft repeat the same things and fancie that you see me reassume my argument in the publick circle of Disputations You say Generation and Corruption are onely made where there are contraries contraries are onely amongst simple natural bodies moveable with contrary motions contrary motions are onely those which are made by a right line between contrary terms and these are onely two that is to say from the medium and towards the medium and such motions belong to no other natural bodies but to the Earth the Fire and the other two Elements therefore Generation and Corruption is onely amongst the Elements And because the third simple motion namely the circular about the medium hath no contrary for that the other two are contraries and one onely hath but onely one contrary therefore that natural body with which such motion agreeth wants a contrary and having no contrary is ingenerable and incorruptible c. Because where there is no contrariety there is no generation or corruption c. But such motion agreeth onely with the Coelestial bodies therefore onely these are ingenerable incorruptible c. And to begin I think it a more easie thing and sooner done to resolve whether the Earth a most vast Body and for its vicinity to us most tractable moveth with a speedy motion such as its revolution about its own axis in twenty four hours would be than it is to understand and resolve whether Generation and Corruption ariseth from contrariety or else whether there be such things as generation corruption and contrariety in nature And if you Simplicius can tell me what method Nature observes in working when she in a very short time begets an infinite number of flies from a little vapour of the Must of wine and can shew me which are there the contraries you speak of what it is that corrupteth and how I should think you would do more than I can for I profess I cannot comprehend these things Besides
move And as to the motion by a right line they must grant us that Nature maketh use of it to reduce the small parts of the Earth Water Air Fire and every other integral Mundane body to their Whole when any of them by chance are separated and so transported out of their proper place if also haply some circular motion might not be found to be more convenient to make this restitution In my judgment this primary position answers much better even according to Aristotles own method to all the other consequences than to attribute the straight motion to be an intrinsick and natural principle of the Elements Which is manifest for that if I aske the Peripatetick if being of opinion that Coelestial bodies are incorruptibe and eternal he believeth that the Terrestial Globe is not so but corruptible and mortal so that there shall come a time when the Sun and Moon and other Stars continuing their beings and operations the Earth shall not be found in the World but shall with the rest of the Elements be destroyed and annihilated I am certain that he would answer me no therefore generation and corruption is in the parts and not in the whole and in the parts very small and superficial which are as it were incensible in comparison of the whole masse And because Aristotle deduceth generation and corruption from the contrariety of streight motions let us remit such motions to the parts which onely change and decay and to the whole Globe and Sphere of the Elements let us ascribe either the circular motion or a perpetual consistance in its proper place the only affections apt for perpetuation and maintaining of perfect order This which is spoken of the Earth may be said with the same reason of Fire and of the greatest part of the Air to which Elements the Peripateticks are forced to ascribe for intrinsical and natural a motion wherewith they were never yet moved nor never shall be and to call that motion preternatural to them wherewith if they move at all they do and ever shall move This I say because they assign to the Air and Fire the motion upwards wherewith those Elements were never moved but only some parts of them and those were so moved onely in order to the recovery of their perfect constitution when they were out of their natural places and on the contrary they call the circular motion preternatural to them though they are thereby incessantly moved forgeting as it seemeth what Aristotle oft inculcateth that nothing violent can be permanent SIMPL. To all these we have very pertinent answers which I for this time omit that we may come to the more particular reasons and sensible experiments which ought in conclusion to be opposed as Aristotle saith well to whatever humane reason can present us with SAGR. What hath been spoken hitherto serves to clear up unto us which of the two general discourses carrieth with it most of probability I mean that of Aristotle which would perswade us that the sublunary bodies are by nature generable and corruptible c. and therefore most different from the essence of Coelestial bodies which are impassible ingenerable incorruptible c. drawn from the diversity of simple motions or else this of Salviatus who supposing the integral parts of the World to be disposed in a perfect constitution excludes by necessary consequence the right or straight motion of simple natural bodies as being of no use in nature and esteems the Earth it self also to be one of the Coelestial bodies adorn'd with all the prerogatives that agree with them which last discourse is hitherto much more likely in my judgment than that other Therefore resolve Simplicius to produce all the particular reasons experiments and observations as well Natural as Astronomical that may serve to perswade us that the Earth differeth from the Coelestial bodies is immoveable and situated in the Centre of the World and what ever else excludes its moving like to the Planets as Jupiter or the Moon c. And Salviatus will be pleased to be so civil as to answer to them one by one SIMPL. See here for a begining two most convincing Arguments to demonstrate the Earth to be most different from the Coelestial bodies First the bodies that are generable corruptible alterable c. are quite different from those that are ingenerable incorruptible unalterable c. But the Earth is generable corruptible alterable c. and the Coelestial bodies ingenerable incorruptible unalterable c. Therefore the Earth is quite different from the Coelestial bodies SAGR. By your first Argument you spread the Table with the same Viands which but just now with much adoe were voided SIMPL. Hold a little Sir and take the rest along with you and then tell me if this be not different from what you had before In the former the Minor was proved à priori now you see it proved à posteriori Judg then if it be the same I prove the Minor therefore the Major being most manifest by sensible experience which 〈…〉 that in the Earth there are made continual generations corruptions alterations c. which neither our senses nor the traditions or memories of our Ancestors ever saw an instance of in Heaven therefore Heaven is unalterable c. and the Earth alterable c. and therefore different from Heaven I take my second Argument from a principal and essential accident and it is this That body which is by its nature obscure and deprived of light is divers from the luminous and shining bodies but the Earth is obscure and void of light and the Coelestial bodies splendid and full of light Ergo c. Answer to these Arguments first that we may not heap up too many and then I will alledge others SALV As to the first the stresse whereof you lay upon experience I desire that you would a little more distinctly produce me the alteration which you see made in the Earth and not in Heaven upon which you call the Earth alterable and the Heavens not so SIMPL. I see in the Earth plants and animals continually generating and decaying winds rains tempests storms arising and in a word the aspect of the Earth to be perpetually metamorphosing none of which mutations are to be discern'd in the Coelestial bodies the constitution and figuration of which is most punctually conformable to that they ever were time out of mind without the generation of any thing that is new or corruption of any thing that was old SALV But if you content your self with these visible or to say better seen experiments you must consequently account China and America Coelestial bodies for doubtlesse you never be held in them these alterations which you see here in Italy and that therefore according to your apprehension they are inalterable SIMPL. Though I never did see these alterations sensibly in those places the relations of them are not to be questioned besides that cum eadem
that hath been found to assigne a reason of that same appearance and withal to maintain the incorruptability and ingenerability of the Heavens and if this doth not suffice there wants not more elevated wits which will give you other more convincing SALV If this of which we dispute were some point of Law or other part of the Studies called Humanity wherein there is neither truth nor falshood if we will give sufficient credit to the acutenesse of the wit readinesse of answers and the general practice of Writers then he who most aboundeth in these makes his reason more probable and plausible but in Natural Sciences the conclusions of which are true and necessary and wherewith the judgment of men hath nothing to do one is to be more cautious how he goeth abouâ— to maintain any thing that is false for a man but of an ordinary wit if it be his good fortune to be of the right side may lay a thousand Demosthenes and a thousand Aristotles at his feet Therefore reject those hopes and conceits wherewith you flatter your self that there can be any men so much more learned read and versed in Authors than we that in despite of nature they should be able to make that become true which is false And seeing that of all the opinions that have been hitherto alledged touching the essence of these Solar spots this instanced in by you is in your judgment the truest it followeth if this be so that all the rest are false and to deliver you from this also which doubtlesse is a most false Chimaera over-passing infinite other improbabilities that are therein I shall propose against it onely two experiments one is that many of those spots are seen to arise in the midst of the Solar ring and many likewise to dissolve and vanish at a great distance from the circumference of the Sun a necessary Argument that they generate and dissolve for if without generating or corrrupting they should appear there by onely local motion they would all be seen to enter and pass out by extreme circumference The other observation to such as are not situate in the lowest degree of ignorance in Perspective by the mutation of the appearing figures and by the apparent mutations of the velocity of motion is necessarily concluding that the spots are contiguous to the body of the Sun and that touching its superficies they move either with it or upon it and that they in no wise move in circles remote from the same The motion proves it which towards the circumference of the Solar Circle appeareth very slow and towards the midst more swift the figures of the spots confirmeth it which towards the circumference appear exceeding narrow in comparison of that which they seem to be in the parts nearer the middle and this because in the midst they are seen in their full luster and as they truly be and towards the circumference by reason of the convexity of the globous superficies they seem more compress'd And both these diminutions of figure and motion to such as know how to observe and calculate them exactly precisely answer to that which should appear the spots being contiguous to the Sun and differ irreconcileably from a motion in circles remote though but for smal intervalls from the body of the Sun as hath been diffusely demonstrated by our Friend in his Letters about the Solar spots to Marcus Velserus It may be gathered from the same mutation of figure that none of them are stars or other bodies of spherical figure for that amongst all figures the sphere never appeareth compressed nor can ever be represented but onely perfectly round and thus in case any particular spot were a round body as all the stars are held to be the said roundness would as well appear in the midst of the Solar ring as when the spot is near the extreme whereas it s so great compression and shewing its self so small towards the extreme and contrariwise spatious and large towards the middle assureth us that these spots are flat plates of small thickness or depth in comparison of their length and breadth Lastly whereas you say that the spots after their determinate periods are observed to return to their former aspect believe it not Simplicius for he that told you so will deceive you and that I speak the truth you may observe them to be hid in the face of the Sun far from the circumference nor hath your Observator told you a word of that compression which necessarily argueth them to be contiguous to the Sun That which he tells you of the return of the said spots is nothing else but what is read in the forementioned Letters namely that some of them may sometimes so happen that are of so long a duration that they cannot be dissipated by one sole conversion about the Sun which is accomplished in less than a moneth SIMPL. I for my part have not made either so long or so exact observations as to enable me to boast my self Master of the Quod est of this matter but I will more accurately consider the same and make tryal my self for my own satisfaction whether I can reconcile that which experience shews us with that which Aristotle teacheth us for it 's a certain Maxim that two Truths cannot be contrary to one another SALV If you would reconcile that which sense shewed you with the solider Doctrines of Aristotle you will find no great difficulty in the undertaking and that so it is doth not Aristotle say that one cannot treat confidently of the things of Heaven by reason of their great remoteness SIMPL. He expresly saith so SALV And doth he not likewise affirm that we ought to prefer that which sense demonstrates before all Arguments though in appearance never so well grounded and saith he not this without the least doubt or haesitation SIMPL. He doth so SALV Why then the second of these propositions which are both the doctrine of Aristotle that saith that sense is to take place of Logick is a doctrine much more solid and undoubted than that other which holdeth the Heavens to be unalterable and therefore you shall argue more Aristotelically saying the Heavens are alterable for that so my sense telleth me than if you should say the Heavens are ualterable for that Logick so perswaded Aristotle Furthermore we may discourse of Coelestial matters much better than Aristotle because he confessing the knowledg thereof to be difficult to him by reason of their remoteness from the senses he thereby acknowledgeth that one to whom the senses can better represent the same may philosophate upon them with more certainty Now we by help of the Telescope are brought thirty or forty times nearer to the Heavens than ever Aristotle came so that we may discover in them an hundred things which he could not see and amongst the rest these spots in the Sun which were to him absolutely
from whence is taken the invention of the Crystals and see here lastly the sight fortified by the passage of the rays through a diaphanous but more dense and obscure medium SAGR. This is a way to comprehend all things knowable much like to that wherewith a piece of marble conteineth in it one yea a thousand very beautiful Statua's but the difficulty lieth in being able to discover them or we may say that it is like to the prophesies of Abbot Joachim or the answers of the Heathen Oracles which are not to be understood till after the things fore-told are come to passe SALV And why do you not adde the predictions of the Genethliacks which are with like cleernesse seen after the event in their Horoscopes or if you will Configurations of the Heavens SAGR. In this manner the Chymists find being led by their melancholly humour that all the sublimest wits of the World have writ of nothing else in reality than of the way to make Gold but that they might transmit the secret to posterity without discovering it to the vulgar they contrived some one way and some another how to conceal the same under several maskes and it would make one merry to hear their comments upon the ancient Poets finding out the important misteries which lie hid under their Fables and the signification of the Loves of the Moon and her descending to the Earth for Endimion her displeasure against Acteon and what was meant by Jupiters turning himself into a showre of Gold and into flames of fire and what great secrets of Art are conteined in that Mercury the Interpreter in those thefts of Pluto and in those Branches of Gold SIMPL. I believe and in part know that there want not in the World very extravagant heads the vanities of whom ought not to redound to the prejudice of Aristotle of whom my thinks you speak sometimes with too little respect and the onely antiquity and bare name that he hath acquired in the opinions of so many famous men should suffice to render him honourable with all that professe themselves learned SALV You state not the matter rightly Simplicius There are some of his followers that fear before they are in danger who give us occasion or to say better would give us cause to esteem him lesse should we consent to applaud their Capricio's And you pray you tell me are you for your part so simple as not to know that had Aristotle been present to have heard the Doctor that would have made him Author of the Telescope he would have been much more displeased with him than with those who laught at the Doctor and his Comments Do you question whether Aristotle had he but seen the novelties discovered in Heaven would not have changed his opinion amended his Books and embraced the more sensible Doctrine rejecting those silly Gulls which too scrupulously go about to defend what ever he hath said not considering that if Aristotle were such a one as they fancy him to themselves he would be a man of an untractable wit an obstinate mind a barbarous soul a stubborn will that accounting all men else but as silly sheep would have his Oracles preferred before the Senses Experience and Nature her self They are the Sectators of Aristotle that have given him this Authority and not he that hath usurped or taken it upon him and because it is more easie for a man to sculk under anothers shield than to shew himself openly they tremble and are affraid to stir one step from him and rather than they will admit some alterations in the Heaven of Aristotle they will impertinently deny those they behold in the Heaven of Nature SAGR. These kind of Drolleries put me in mind of that Statuary which having reduced a great piece of Marble to the Image of an Hercules or a thundring Jupiter I know not whether and given it with admirable Art such a vivacity and threatning fury that it moved terror in as many as beheld it he himself began also to be affraid thereof though all its sprightfulnesse and life was his own workmanship and his affrightment was such that he had no longer the courage to affront it with his Chizzels and Mallet SALV I have many times wondered how these nice maintainers of what ever fell from Aristotle are not aware how great a prejudice they are to his reputation and credit and how that the more they go about to encrease his Authority the more they diminish it for whilest I see them obstinate in their attempts to maintain those Propositions which I palpably discover to be manifestly false and in their desires to perswade me that so to do is the part of a Philosopher and that Aristotle himself would do the same it much abates in me of the opinion that he hath rightly philosophated about other conclusions to me more abstruse for if I could see them concede and change opinion in a manifest truth I would believe that in those in which they should persist they may have some solid demonstrations to me unknown and unheard of SAGR. Or when they should be made to see that they have hazarded too much of their own and Aristotle's repuatation in confessing that they had not understood this or that conclusion found out by some other man would it not be a less evil for them to seek for it amongst his Texts by laying many of them together according to the art intimated to us by Simplicius for if his works contain all things knowable it must follow also that they may be therein discovered SALV Good Sagredus make no jest of this advice which me thinks you rehearse in too Ironical a way for it is not long since that a very eminent Philosopher having composed a Book de animà wherein citing the opinion of Aristotle about its being or not being immortal he alledged many Texts not any of those heretofore quoted by Alexander ab Alexandro for in those he said that Aristotle had not so much as treated of that matter much less determined any thing pertaining to the same but others by himself found out in other more abstruse places which tended to an erroneous sense and being advised that he would find it an hard matter to get a Licence from the Inquisitors he writ back unto his friend that he would notwithstanding with all expedition procure the same for that if no other obstacle should interpose he would not much scruple to change the Doctrine of Aristotle and with other expositions and other Texts to maintain the contrary opinion which yet should be also agreeable to the sense of Aristotle SAGR. Oh most profound Doctor this that can command me that I stir not a step from Aristotle but will himself lead him by the nose and make him speak as he pleaseth See how much it importeth to learn to take Time by the Fore-top Nor is it seasonable to have to do with Hercules whil'st he is enraged and
the left by the agitation of the ship cannot import any great number of fathomes Now suppose that you had two Telescopes fixed one at the Partners close by the Deck and the other at the round top nay at the main top or main top-gallant top where you hang forth the Pennon or streamer and that they be both directed to the Vessel that is ten miles off tell me whether you believe that any agitation of the ship inclination of the Mast can make greater changes as to the angle in the higher tube than in the lower One wave arising the prow will make the main top give back fifteen or twenty fathom more than the foot of the Mast and it shall carry the upper tube along with it so greata space the lower it may be not a palm but the angle shall change in one Instrument aswell as in the other and likewise a side-billow shall bear the higher tube an hundred times as far to the Larboard or Starboard as it will the other below but the angles change not at all or else alter both alike But the mutation to the right hand or left forwards or backwards upwards or downwards bringeth no sensible impediment in the kenning of objects remote though the alteration of the angle maketh great change therein Therefore it must of necessity be confessed that the use of the Telescope on the round top is no more difficult than upon the Deck at the Partners seeing that the angular mutations are alike in both places SALV How much circumspection is there to be used in affirming or denying a proposition I say again thar hearing it resolutely affirmed that there is a greater motion made on the Masts top than at its partners every one will perswade himself that the use of the Telescope is much more difficult above than below And thus also I will excuse those Philosophers who grow impatient and fly out into passion against such as will not grant them that that Cannon bullet which they cleerly see to fall in a right line perpendicularly doth absolutely move in that manner but will have its motion to be by an arch and also very much inclined and transversal but let us leave them in these labyrinths and let us hear the other objections that our Author in hand brings against Copernicus SIMP The Author goeth on to demonstrate that in the Doctrine of Copernicus it is requisite to deny the Senses and the greatest Sensations as for instance it would be if we that feel the respirations of a gentle gale should not feel the impulse of a perpetual winde that beateth upon us with a velocity that runs more than 2529 miles an hour for so much is the space that the centre of the Earth in its annual motion passeth in an hour upon the circumference of the grand Orb as he diligently calculates and because as he saith by the judgment of Copernicus Cum terra movetur circumpositus aër motus tamen ejus velocior licet ac rapidior celerrimo quocunque vento à nobis non sentiretur sed summa tum tranquilitas reputaretur nisi alius motus accederet Quid est verò decipi sensum nisi haec esset deceptio Which I make to speak to this sense The circumposed air is moved with the Earth yet its motion although more speedy and rapid than the swiftest wind whatsoever would not be perceived by us but then would be thought a great tranquillity unlesse some other motion should happen what then is the deception of the sense if this be not SALV It must needs be that this Philosopher thinketh that that Earth which Copernicus maketh to turn round together with the ambient air along the circumference of the great Orb is not that whereon we inhabit but some other separated from this for that this of ours carrieth us also along with it with the same velocity as also the circumjacent air And what beating of the air can we feel when we fly vvith equal speed from that vvhich should accost us This Gentleman forgot that vve no less than the Earth and air are carried about and that consequently vve are alvvays touch'd by one and the same part of the air vvhich yet doth not make us feel it SIMP But I rather think that he did not so think hear the vvords vvhich immediatey follovv Praeterea nos quoque rotamur ex circumductione terrae c. SALV Now I can no longer help nor excuse him do you plead for him and bring him off Simplicius SIMP I cannot thus upon the sudden think of an excuse that pleaseth me SALV Go to take this whole night to think on it and defend him to morrow in the mean time let us hear some other of his objections SIMP He prosecuteth the same Objection shewing that in the way of Copernicus a man must deny his own senses For that this principle whereby we turn round with the Earth either is intrinsick to us or external that is a rapture of that Earth and if it be this second we not feeling any such rapture it must be confessed that the sense of feeling doth not feel its own object touching it nor its impression on the sensible part but if the principle be intrinsecal we shall not perceive a local motion that is derived from our selves and we shall never discover a propension perpetually annexed to our selves SALV So that the instance of this Philosopher lays its stress upon this that whether the principle by which we move round with the Earth be either extern or intern yet however we must perceive it and not perceiving it it is neither the one nor the other and therefore we move not nor consequently the Earth Now I say that it may be both ways and yet we not perceive the same And that it may be external the experiment of the boat superabundantly satisfieth me I say superabundantly because it being in our power at all times to make it move and also to make it stand still and with great exactness to make observation whether by some diversity that may be comprehended by the sense of feeling we can come to know whether it moveth or no seeing that as yet no such science is obtained Will it then be any matter of wonder if the same accident is unknown to us on the Earth the which may have carried us about perpetually and we without our being ever able to experiment its rest You Simplicius as I believe have gone by boat many times to Padoua and if you will confess the truth you never felt in your self the participation of that motion unless when the boat running a-ground or encountring some obstacle did stop and that you with the other Passengers being taken on a sudden were with danger over-set It would be necessary that the Terrestrial Globe should meet with some rub that might arrest it for I assure you that then you would discern the impulse residing in you when it
filched from the Ancients and somewhat altered 99 Aristotle his Arguments for the Earths Quiescence and Immobility 107 Aristotle were he alive would either refute his Adversaries Arguments or else would alter his Opinion 113 Aristotles first Argument against the Earths Motion is defective in two things 121 The Paralogisme of Aristotle and Ptolomy in supposing that for known which is in question 121 Aristotle admitteth that the Fire moveth directly upwards by Nature and round about by Participation 122 Aristotle and Ptolomy seem to confute the Earths Mobility against those who think that it having along time stood still began to move in the time of Pythagoras 168 Aristotle his errour in affirming falling Grave Bodies to move according to the proportion of their gravities 199 Aristotle his Demonstrations to prove the Earth is finite are all nullified by denying it to be moveable 294 Aristotle maketh that Point to be the Centre of the Universe about which all the Celestial Spheres do revolve 294 A question is put if Arist. were forced to receive one of two Propositions that make against his Doctrine which he would admit 294 Aristotle his Argument against the Ancients who held that the Earth was a Planet 344 Aristotle taxeth Plato of being over-studious of Geometry 361 Aristotle hâ—ldeth those Effects to be miraculous of which the Causes are unknown 384 ASTRONOMERS Astronomers confuted by Anti-Tycho 38 The principal Scope of Astronomers is to give a reason of Appearances and Phaenomena 308 Astronomers all agree that the greater Magnitudes of the Orbes is the cause of the tardity in their Conversions 331 Astronomers perhaps have not known what Appearances ought to follow upon the Annual Motion of the Earth 338 Astronomers having omitted to instance what alterations those are that may be derived from the Annual Motion of the Earth do thereby testifie that they never rightly understood the same 343 ASTRONOMICAL Astronomical Observations wrested by Anti-Tycho to his own purpose 39 Astronomical Instruments are very subject to errour 262 ASTRONOMY Astronomy restored by Copernicus upon the Suppositions of Ptolomy 308 Many things may remain as yet unobserved in Astronomy 415 AUCUPATORIAN An Aucupatorian Problem for shooting of Birds flying 157 AXIOME or Axiomes In the Axiome Frustra fit per plura c. the addition of aequae bene is super fluous 106 Three Axiomes that are supposed manifest 230 Certain Axiomes commonly admitted by all Philosophers 361 B BODY and Bodies Contraries that corrupt reside not in the same Body that corrupteth 30 GRAVE BODY If the Celestial Globe were perforated a Grave Body descending by that Bore would passe and ascend as far beyond the Centre as it did descend 203 The motion of Grave Bodies Vide Motion The Accelleration of Grave Bodies that descend naturally increaseth from moment to moment 205 We know no more who moveth Grave Bodies downwards than who moveth the Stars round nor know we any thing of these Courses more than the Names imposed on them by our selves 210 The great Masse of Grave Bodies being transferred out of their Place the seperated parts would follow that Masse 221 PENSILE BODY Every Pensile Body carried round in the Circumference of a Circle acquireth of it self a Motion in it self contrary to the same 362 CELESTIAL BODIES neither heavy nor light according to Aristotle 23 Celestial Bodies are Generable and Corruptible because they are Ingenerable and Incorruptible 29 Amongst Celest. Bodies there is no contrariety 29 Celestial Bodies touch but are not touched by the Elements 30 Rarity and Density in Celestial Bodies different from Rarity and Density in the Elements 30 Celestial Bodies designed to serve the Earth need no more but Motion and Light 45 Celestial Bodies want an interchangeable Operation on each other 46 Celestial Bodies alterable in their externe parts 46 Perfect Sphericity why ascribed to Celestial Bodies by Peripateticks 69 All Celestial Bodies have Gravity and Levity 493 ELEMENTARY BODIES Their propension to follow the Earth hath a limited Sphere of Activity 213 LIGHT BODIES easier to be moved than heavy but lesse apt to conserve the Motion 400 LUMINOUS BODIES Bodies naturally Luminous are different from those that are by nature Obscure 34 The reason why Luminous Bodies appear so much the more enlarged by how much they are lesser 304 Manifest Experience shews that the more Luminous Bodies do much more irradiate than the lesse Lucid. 306 SIMPLE BODYES have but one Simple Motion that agreeth with them 494 SPHERICAL BODIES In Spherical Bodies Deorsum is the Centre and Sursum the Cirference 479 BONES The ends of the Bones are rotund and why 232 BUONARRUOTTI Buonarruotti a Statuary of admirable ingenuity 86 C CANON A shameful Errour in the Argument taken from the Canon-Bullets falling from the Moons Concave 197 An exact Computation of the fall of the Canon-Bullet from the Moons Concave to the Centre of the Earth 198 CELESTIAL Celestial Substances that be Vnalterable and Elementary that be Alterable necessary in the opinion of Aristotle 2 CENTRE The Sun more probably in the Centre of the Vniverse than the Earth 22 Natural inclination of all the Globes of the World to go to their Centre 22 Grave Bodies may more rationally be affirmed to tend towards the Centre of the Earth than of the Vniverse 25 CHYMISTS Chymists interpret the Fables of Poets to be Secrets for making of Gold 93 CIRCLE and Circular It is not impossible with the Circumference of a small Circle few times revolved to measure and describe a line bigger than any great Circle whatsoever 222 The Circular Line perfect according to Aristotle and the Right imperfect and why 9 CLARAMONTIUS The Paralogisme of Claramontius 241 The Argument of Claramontius recoileth upon himself 245 The Method observed by Claramontius in consuting Astronomers and by Salviatus in refuting him 253 CLOUDS Clouds no lesse apt than the Moon to be illuminated by the Sun 73 CONCLUSION and Conclusions The certainty of the Conclusion helpeth by a resolutive Method to finde the Demonstration 37 The Book of Conclusioâ—s frequently mentioned was writ by Christopher Scheiner a Jesuit 195 323. CONTRARIES Contraries that corrupt reside not in the same Body that corrupteth 30 COPERNICAN Answers to the three first Objections against the Copernican System 303 The Copernican System difficul to be understood but easie to be effected 354 A plain Scheme representing the Copernican Systeme and its consequences 354 The proscribing of the Copernican Doctrine after so long a Tolleration and now that it is more than ever followed studied and confirmed would be an affront to Truth 444 The Copern System admirably agreeth with the Miracle of Joshuah in the Literal Sense 456 If Divines would admit of the Copernican System they might soon find out Expositions for all Scriptures that seem to make against it 459 The Copernican System rejected by many out of a devout respect to Scripture Authorities 461 The Copernican System more plainly asserted in Scripture than the Ptolomaick 469 COPERNICANS Copernicans are
invented it for I do believe for certain that he first procured by help of the senses such experiments and observations as he could to assure him as much as it was possible of the conclusion and that he afterwards sought out the means how to demonstrate it For this is the usual course in demonstrative Sciences and the reason thereof is because when the conclusion is true by help of resolutive Method one may hit upon some proposition before demonstrated or come to some principle known per se but if the conclusion be false a man may proceed in infinitum and never meet with any truth already known but very oft he shall meet with some impossibility or manifest absurdity Nor need you question but that Pythagoras along time before he found the demonstration for which he offered the Hecatomb had been certain that the square of the side subtending the right angle in a rectangle triangle was equal to the square of the other two sides and the certainty of the conclusion conduced not a little to the investigating of the demonstration understanding me alwayes to mean in demonstrative Sciences But what ever was the method of Aristotle and whether his arguing à priori preceded sense à posteriori or the contrary it sufficeth that the same Aristotle preferreth as hath been oft said sensible experiments before all discourses besides as to the Arguments à priori their force hath been already examined Now returning to my purposed matter I say that the things in our times discovered in the Heavens are and have been such that they may give absolute satisfaction to all Philosophers forasmuch as in the particular bodies and in the universal expansion of Heaven there have been and are continually seen just such accidents as we call generations and corruptions being that excellent Astronomers have observed many Comets generated and dissolved in parts higher than the Lunar Orb besides the two new Stars Anno 1572 and Anno 1604 without contradiction much higher than all the Planets and in the face of the Sun it self by help of the Telescope certain dense and obscure substances in semblance very like to the foggs about the Earth are seen to be produced and dissolved and many of these are so vast that they far exceed not only the Mediterranian Streight but all Affrica and Asia also Now if Aristotle had seen these things what think you he would have said and done Simplicius SIMPL. I know not what Aristotle would have done or said that was the great Master of all the Sciences but yet I know in part what his Sectators do and say and ought to do and say unlesse they would deprive themselves of their guide leader and Prince in Philosophy As to the Comets are not those Modern Astronomers who would make them Coelestial convinced by the Anti-Tycho yea and overcome with their own weapons I mean by way of Paralaxes and Calculations every way tryed concluding at the last in favour of Aristotle that they are all Elementary And this being overthrown which was as it were their foundation have these Novellists any thing more wherewith to maintain their assertion SALV Hold a little good Simplicius this modern Author what saith he to the new Stars Anno 1572 and 1604 and to the Solar spots for as to the Comets I for my own particular little care to make them generated under or above the Moon nor did I ever put much stresse on the loquacity of Tycho nor am I hard to believe that their matter is Elementary and that they may elevate sublimate themselves at their pleasure without meeting with any obstacle from the impenetrability of the Peripatetick Heaven which I hold to be far more thin yielding and subtil than our Air and as to the calculations of the Parallaxes first the uncertainty whether Comets are subject to such accidents and next the inconstancy of the observations upon which the computations are made make me equally suspect both those opinions and the rather for that I see him you call Anti-Tycho sometimes stretch to his purpose or else reject those observations which interfere with his design SIMPL. As to the new Stars Anti-Tycho extricates himself finely in three or four words saying That those modern new Stars are no certain parts of the Coelestial bodies and that the adversaries if they will prove alteration and generation in those superior bodies must shew some mutations that have been made in the Stars described so many ages past of which there is no doubt but that they be Coelestial bodies which they can never be able to do Next as to those matters which some affirm to generate and dissipate in the face of the Sun he makes no mention thereof wherefore I conclude that he believed them fictious or the illusions of the Tube or at most some petty effects caused by the Air and in brief any thing rather than matters Coelestial SALV But you Simplicius what answer could you give to the opposition of these importunate spots which are started up to disturb the Heavens and more than that the Peripatetick Philosophy It cannot be but that you who are so resolute a Champion of it have found some reply or solution for the same of which you ought not to deprive us SIMPL. I have heard sundry opinions about this particular One saith They are Stars which in their proper Orbs like as Venus and Mercury revolve about the Sun and in passing under it represent themselves to us obscure and for that they are many they oft happen to aggregate their parts together and afterwards seperate again Others believe them to be äerial impressions others the illusions of the chrystals and others other things But I incline to think yea am verily perswaded That they are an aggregate of many several opacous bodies as it were casually concurrent among themselves And therefore we often see that in one of those spots one may number ten or more such small bodies which are of irregular figures and seem to us like flakes of snow or flocks of wooll or moaths flying they vary fire amongst themselves and one while sever another while meet and most of all beneath the Sun about which as about their Centre they continually move But yet must we not therefore grant that they are generated or dissolved but that at sometimes they are hid behind the body of the Sun and at other times though remote from it yet are they not seen for the vicinity of the immeasurable light of the Sun in regard that in the eccentrick Orb of the Sun there is constituted as it were an Onion composed of many folds one within another each of which being studded with certain small spots doth move and albeit their motion at first seemeth inconstant and irregular yet neverthelesse it is said at last to be observed that the very same spots as before do within a determinate time return again This seemeth to me the fittest answer