Chapter XX: Introduction (15)

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.

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