Chapter 32: On the situation of the celestial sphere

1. The sphere of the heavens is rounded and its center is the earth, equally shut in on every side. This sphere, they say, has neither beginning nor end, for the reason that being rounded like a circle it is not easily perceived where it begins or where it ends.

2. The philosophers have brought in the theory of seven heavens of the universe, that is, globes with planets moving harmoniously, and they assert that by their circles all things are bound together, and they think that these, being connected, and, as it were, fitted to one another, move backward and are borne with definite motions in contrary directions.

Chapter 33. On the motion of the same.

1. The sphere revolves on two axes, of which one is the northern, which never sets, and is called Boreas; the other is the southern, which is never seen, and is called Austronotius.

2. On these two poles the sphere of heaven moves, they say, and with its motion the stars fixed in it pass from the east all the way around to the west, the _septentriones_ near the point of rest describing smaller circles.

Chapter 34. On the course of the same sphere.

1. The sphere of heaven, [moving] from the east towards the west, turns once in a day and night, in the space of twenty-four hours, within which the sun completes his swift revolving course over the lands and under the earth.

Chapter 35. On the swiftness of the heavens.

1. With such swiftness is the sphere of heaven said to run, that if the stars did not run against its headlong course in order to delay it, it would destroy the universe.

Chapter 36. On the axis of the heavens.

1. The axis is a straight line north, which passes through the center of the globe of the sphere, and is called axis because the sphere revolves on it like a wheel, or it may be because the Wain is there.