12 Preface to On the Sphere (1531) CR II, 530–7
12 Preface to On the Sphere (1531)
CR II, 530–7
Philip Melanchthon sends greetings to Simon Grynaeus, a most learned man and an old friend1
Since it is beneficial in all arts to teach some brief elements at the beginning in order to prepare students for deeper knowledge, the greatest gratitude is due to the most excellent and learned men who wrote introductory works for us of those most beautiful disciplines, that is, of astronomy and cosmography. They deserve praise not only because of the merit of the arts themselves, but even more because of the difficulty of the matter. For it was a matter of great labour and sagacity to choose from such a wide and varied multitude of things those which would be most beneficial for the introduction and the beginning. For that reason I have always loved the wonderful book by Johannes de Sacrobosco2 which appears to me to have grasped very aptly the first principles of this discipline, and I judge that I have seen in the universities most learned men who preferred this book to others of the same kind with great unanimity, and wanted it to be available in all schools, and to be in everyone's hands. ‘The book that is to live needs to have genius’, says Martial [Epigrams 6.60.10]. But such genius does not fall to the lot of works which do not have the commendation of usefulness. In order for the book to have favourable genius for so many centuries in all schools, among such a variety of opinions, it must be filled with the best things. For we see very few writings bear their age well, in particular in the schools, where they usually judge most capriciously. But this book has been read with the greatest approval of the learned, for many centuries already. Therefore let us, too, take care to transmit to coming generations this book which we have received into our hands from our ancestors, and let us preserve it as a public work for everyone's studies, so that it shows to the young in the schools the approach to the most beautiful arts, whose elements it
1 Simon Grynaeus' (1494–1541) life-long friendship with Melanchthon went back to their school days at Pforzheim. Grynaeus held chairs of Greek at the University of Heidelberg and then at the University of Basle. This preface to Grynaeus was often censored in Catholic countries: see I. Pantin, ‘La Lettre de Melanchthon à S. Grynaeus: les Avatars d'une Apologie de l'Astrologie’, in Divination et Controverse Religieuse en France au XVIe Siècle, ed. R. Aulotte (Paris, 1987), pp. 85–101.
2 Johannes de Sacrobosco (John of Holywood; d. 1256) was educated at the universities of Oxford and of Paris. At Paris, he became a professor of mathematics, renowned for his proficiency in astronomy. He composed the De Sphaera based on the works of Ptolemy and his Arabic commentators. It became the standard university textbook of astronomy.
teaches. For if we reckon that the knowledge of these arts is useful in life, these monuments, which open the path to them, must be preserved by us with great effort.
Who is so hard-hearted and so without feeling that he does not sometimes, looking up at the sky and beholding the most beautiful stars in it, marvel at these varied alternations which are produced by their motions, or desire to know the traces, so to speak, of their motions, that is, the fixed computation shown by divine providence? For such varied things, which are placed so far away, would not have been investigated or perceived by human sight had God not roused and advanced the studies of some outstanding men. Since therefore nature leads men to these arts, one has to consider as utterly lacking a human mind those who are in no way affected by the sweetness of these things and of knowledge. Plato very plainly says that men were given eyes for the sake of astronomy [Timaeus 47a; Republic VII, 530d]. He meant to say that there is nothing more beautiful among all the bodies than the heavenly lights, and that men are particularly drawn to enjoy that beauty. But it seems to me indeed that the eyes themselves have the greatest affinity with the stars. Just as the sun shines in the world, so in man, too – whom some call a ‘small universe’ (mikron kosmon) because of several similarities – his own lights or stars are created. Therefore those who disdain these related lights do not contemplate the work of nature, and for that reason they deserve to have their eyes plucked out, since they do not want to use them for the purpose for which they are chiefly made – especially since that knowledge puts us in mind of God and of our immortality. For it is not possible for the human mind not to conclude that there is a mind that rules and governs everything, if it contemplated these established courses and laws of the great circuits and stars. For no such thing can exist or continue by chance or by another power without a mind.
For this reason – if astronomy corroborates the belief about God in the minds of men – we have to consider that Plato said not only learnedly, but also piously that eyes are given to us because of astronomy. For they are certainly given to us chiefly for the reason that they may be our guides for searching for some knowledge of God. Furthermore, only those among the philosophers who spurned astronomy were professedly ungodly (atheoi); having done away with providence, they also removed the immortality of our souls. If they had reached this knowledge, they would have perceived the manifest traces of God in nature, and, having noticed them, they would have been forced to acknowledge that the universe is made and governed
by a mind. But if someone also requires authority from the Holy Scriptures, which commend these studies, he has a most weighty testimony in Genesis, where it is written: ‘They will be for signs, seasons and years’ [Genesis 1: 14]. How would the sun bring about the years for us if not by observing its orbit, and by marking off spaces and distances of its course and the seasons? Therefore that heavenly voice admonishes us to observe the motions of the heavenly bodies. Why should I recount the public benefits? What would the life of men be like if we did not have a defined relation of the seasons, or if we did not have the number of the years in history or in public business? Not to know anything about the sequence of the past, and not being able to establish an order of seasons in our present business would be more than barbarity; indeed, the life of beasts. In such ignorance neither religion of any kind nor public order could be preserved.
Therefore, since nature stirs us up and divine oracles admonish us (although the meaning of nature, too, is a divine inspiration and almost the voice of God), and the greatness of the benefits attracts one to this discipline, the studious young must cherish it diligently. In this matter it befits them to be moved also by the praises for our country, because this discipline has recently blossomed again after it had been neglected without honour for some centuries, re-established by two excellent men, Peuerbach and Regiomontanus,3 of whom the one was from Nuremberg, the other from nearby Franconia. The facts prove that these two heroes were roused with extraordinary force by divine providence to make these arts illustrious. For when did these studies attain such light after they were extinguished in Egypt? For even though the Arabs seized with great energy the property relinquished by the Greeks, so much so that they propagated these arts to the West and as far as Spain, nevertheless their writings show that this inquisitive people did not take pains in observing the motions as much as in divinations. They were so desirous of the latter that – not satisfied with Ptolemy's astrology, which can be considered a part of natural philosophy – they also devised casting of lots and many other kinds of predictions for which no cause can be assigned (anaitiologēta) [Tetrabiblos III].
But these men brought all their zeal to the chief part of knowledge; they rescued the most obscure demonstrations of Ptolemy and brought them to light, and, in order that the art be transmitted to coming generations, they
3 Georg Peuerbach (1423–61) was born in Peuerbach, Austria, not Nuremberg, and does not have an obvious connection with Nuremberg; Johannes Regiomontanus (1436–76), Peuerbach's student, was born in Königsberg in Franconia. See oration 29 on Regiomontanus' life, p. 237.
provided us with more than one kind of commentary.4 The ancients praise the dove of Archytas and various works by Archimedes, but that brief book, the Theorica of Peuerbach, is far more admirable.5 It contains the whole of the very long work by Ptolemy, and sets before our eyes the position of the orbits. What should I say of the remaining works, the entire Epitome and the tables, in which they demonstrate the use of the rules, in order to complete the art.
Therefore, to that extent our men are successful in this discipline. For these authors sowed the seeds of that discipline throughout Germany, just as it is written that Triptolemus distributed the seeds of the fruits of the earth.6 Therefore it would be a most vile thing for us to dismiss such noble possession of the best things.
However, there are some Epicurean theologians who mock this entire branch of learning. Not only do they take away credibility from the prophecies, but they also disparage knowledge of motion; let us leave them to play the fool with Epicurus. For they are in a condition such that they would need medical doctors rather than geometers. It is an obvious kind of madness to spurn the knowledge of the motions, which contains the most erudite and fixed computations – not to mention in particular the part concerned with divination, although neither Pico7 nor anybody else can persuade me that the stars have no effect on the elements and on the bodies of animated beings and, besides, no import in this lower nature. For experience shows that the conjunctions of fiery stars indeed brings these bodies and droughts, and again that the meeting of humid stars increases the moisture. Furthermore, stars mixed in various ways, and variously8
4 As a papal legate, Cardinal Johannes Bessarion (1403–73) went to Vienna in order to secure German participation in the campaign against the Turks. There, he commissioned a new translation of Ptolemy's Almagest and a more accessible digest of Ptolemaic astronomy from Peuerbach. Peuerbach, who knew no Greek, began the digest, entitled the Epitome, based on Gerard of Cremona's translation (from the Arabic), but died before its completion. His student Regiomontanus accompanied Bessarion to Rome in the autumn of 1461 to complete the Epitome, which was first printed in 1496. See N. M. Swerdlow, ‘The Recovery of the Exact Sciences of Antiquity: Mathematics, Astronomy, Geography’, in Rome Reborn: the Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture, ed. A. Grafton (Washington, New Haven, London and Vatican City, 1993), pp. 125–67.
5 Archytas of Tarentum (fl. c. 400 BC), was a renowned mathematician and Pythagorean. He is said to have invented mathematical instruments, including wooden pigeons which could fly. Peuerbach composed the Novae Theoricae Planetarum, a new version of the medieval astronomical textbook, Theorica Planetatum, usually attributed to Gerard of Cremona.
6 Unable to make him immortal, the goddess Ceres taught Triptolemus agriculture and commanded him to scatter seeds from her chariot: see Ovid, Metamorphoses, V.645–7.
7 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) wrote against astrology in the Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem, first published in 1496.
8 Reading varieque for variaeque.
arranged qualities have different effects, like completely dissimilar and differently arranged things in remedies. Therefore I judge that Aristotle spoke rightly when he said that this lower world is governed by the higher one, and that the higher things are the cause of motion in the lower ones. He adds a very wisely considered reason: since the beginning of motion comes from the heavens, it follows that the motion of the heavens is also the cause of motion in everything else.
For these are his words, which we add so that the young may remember them like an oracle: ‘This is necessarily continuous with the motions from above, so that all its power is governed from there, whence is the origin of motion; it needs to be considered the first cause for everything’9 [Meteorology I.ii.339a22]. Just as in our bodies life, or the first motion that resides in the heart, stimulates motion in the other members, so, since without doubt the motion of the heavens is the first, it rouses the other bodies to effect each their own motions. Assuredly no one who is correctly versed in philosophy will think differently in any way. For the doctors, too, who tend to search for the causes of things in matter more than in the heavens, nevertheless relate many things to the constitutions of the stars. The book ascribed to Hippocrates, Airs, Waters, Places, demonstrates that.
And these things do not disagree with Christian doctrine which, although it teaches us that all things are governed by divine providence, nevertheless does not remove the natural actions and import of things. Thus it appears to be the case in nourishing the body: although God bestows life and motion on them, He nevertheless commands us to pamper and support them with food, drink and other things made for protecting life. And it is prudence worthy of a Christian to distinguish which are the actions of God together with nature and which those of God alone and placed above nature. To speak of man in particular, it often appears to me when I think about it that three kinds of action befall men. What springs from man's nature, by emotion and by reason, is very well known. The inclinations, which follow the mixtures of qualities, belong to this. For we see endless differences between minds, which certainly bring forth dissimilar actions, so that the poet spoke the truth when he said: ‘Each one follows the seeds of his own nature.’10
9 This passage was originally in Greek: Esti dex anankēs suneches pōs houtos tais anothen phorais, hōste pasan autou tēn dunamin kubernasthai ekeithen, hothen gar hē tēs kinēseōs archē, pasin ekeinēn aitian nomisteon prōtēn, which is very close to the corresponding passage in Aristotle, Meterology, I.ii.
10 This is a paraphrase of Horace, Art of Poetry, 108–11, found verbatim in Fioravanti Octavianus Mirandula, Illustrium poetarum flores (Strasbourg: W. Rihel, 1538), CCXVIIr, a copy of which was in the Wittenberg University Libraray: S. Kusukawa, A Wittenberg University Library Catalogue, no. 907.
For what is so established among doctors as that the habits and passions (ta ēthē kai ta pathē) imitate the disposition of bodies? And the reality itself tells us that no habits (ēthē) can exist in a bilious man, but that immoderate impulses are roused in him, like storms, great and violent passions (pathē), which reason can only rule or curb with the greatest difficulty. If anyone contemplated the character of different regions and the minds of various peoples, what other cause for this difference could he show than the nature of the heavens? From this one can judge easily that in the mixing of the temperaments of bodies and minds the nature of light also concurs, among other things. And I do not judge11 that education, habit, custom, laws and advice contribute nothing to ruling these inclinations, but I put these, too, under that category of action that springs from nature.
The second category is that of actions which exist in man by divine providence, above nature. For it is proper for the Christian mind to understand and feel that men are protected and governed by divine providence. But although God governs in such a way that He also leaves to nature its parts in some way, He nevertheless corrects many things in nature, and for many things He allows different outcomes than those that nature intended. For neither was Moses saved by the favour of the stars when he escaped by a road opened through the sea, nor was Peter freed by the favour of the constellations when he was led from prison by the angel, nor was Paul made pious from being an enemy of the Gospel by the power of the stars. No one fails to understand that God is to be considered exclusively responsible for such works. Therefore, just as we receive the powers of nature to such a degree that they do not take away the rule of Christ, so we concede to the star its powers to such a degree that it detracts nothing from the glory of Christ; since everything is subject to Him, rightfully, it should also be considered that the powers of the stars have to obey Him. Worthy minds must cheer and strengthen themselves by this belief against the sad signs which not rarely perturb the minds to an astonishing extent amidst such weakness of human nature. Just as otherwise we must prefer the word of God to our conjectures, so the mind12 has to be strengthened against these signs by the word of God and the divine promises. The well-known saying taken from Jeremiah teaches this: ‘Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them’ [Jeremiah 10:2]. For the prophet does not deny that they are signs, but since he names them signs, he means that they
11 Reading iudico for iudicio.
12 Reading animi for animo.
threaten great and sad things. He comforts the faithful not to fear them, not because they portend nothing, but so that they may trust that they are protected by divine providence among these perils – just as Christ forbids us to fear death, not because it is not harsh, but that we may know that even in death Christ is with us to deliver us. Therefore the mind is to be raised up above this entire corporeal nature; even if the world fell apart, it is not to be allowed that the word of God or the trust in God be driven out of us. Pious minds are fortified by this trust against the present perils, and in the same way they will also have to be fortified against the hostile signs of the stars. Just as other parts of natural philosophy do not harm the Christian religion, so neither does astrology – for we consider that a part of natural philosophy as well – stand in the way of piety, if one uses it in its place.
Beside the two kinds of action that I have recounted, there is a third kind of action, towards the undertaking of which minds are driven against nature by the devil, with great impulse. For the unnatural desires and murders of Nero and similar tyrants are rightly attributed to the devil and not to the stars or other natural causes. And so, since human minds are not moved by one kind of cause only, it follows that the laws of fate are hindered in various ways, at times by divine inspiration, at times by custom, at times by deliberation and that at times they are also turned for the worse by the devil. Therefore Ptolemy says clearly that the decrees of the astrologers are not those of praetors – for the edicts of the praetor force the people to obey. Indeed these signs do not apply violence to men, even though they are active everywhere. History supplies examples of these things.
But this argument is too long to be explained in its entirety here. I have spoken of it at such length so that the young do not altogether condemn this circle of arts, because some inexperienced men mock divinations. For this teaching of the heavenly motions contains a most weighty knowledge which is most worthy of man. And if anyone uses their judgement, they will understand that the other part of the art, that is, that related to divinations, is just as much part of natural philosophy as the doctors' predictions are considered a part of natural philosophy. For one must not think that these beautiful bodies of the stars are made in vain, in particular since their order and course is established with the greatest reason, so much so that it appears that something like a state is depicted in the sky, as if in a poem. For the sun, which appears to rule, is moved to the middle of the orbit, accompanied by senators, a warrior and an orator; it also has stewards, the moon and Venus. These are mainly dominant in putting in motion the
humours by which bodies are nourished. Since even here the wonderful order and position, as well as the fixed laws, testify that the construction is established by the highest reason, it is not proper to say that the stars have no meaning and no effects. And it is not in vain that the Holy Scriptures say: ‘They will be for signs, seasons and years’ [Genesis 1:14]. Here he not only says that the years, the alternating of days and nights and the distinction between the seasons, that is, of summer and winter, are brought about by the stars, but he also adds something about the signs. The agreement of all centuries recognises this, by which it has been ascertained that eclipses have always had sad effects. It is not for the well-instructed man to disagree with the concerted opinion of so many centuries.
Perhaps I have spoken about these things longer than necessary in the preface to this book, but I intended to admonish the young at the very entrance to these arts to think of the entire circle of arts with more respect.
I have written to you, most learned Grynaeus, not because I believed that it was necessary to incite you by this reasoning – you who excel in all of philosophy to such an extent that there is no one among our men whom I could compare to you. But the mention of these arts always renews my memory of you. As a witness of this you have the excellent Jakob Milich who, since he teaches these arts here, converses much with me about them; we usually include you, too, in this conversation. And so there was no one to whom I would rather write about these arts than to you, so that you understand that we connect with them the remembrance of your friendship, although there are also some published works by you which put us in mind of your virtues and beautiful studies. For by your favour we have a more faultless and more refined Aristotle whom you know I admire, love and cherish greatly. But I love him even more now that I have added the name of a man most dear to me in the beginning of his [Aristotle's] works. If only at some time I had the leisure to explain and praise that author as you have undertaken to do with great success. You explained several books far more successfully than had been done by those who, shortly before our time, showed us not the genuine face of Aristotle but barely a feeble shadow. They did not teach philosophy, that is, the knowledge of speaking and judging wisely, but they crushed it by idle and empty subtleties, which were of no use for judging on public and other important matters. But of these things elsewhere. Farewell. Wittenberg, in the month of August 1531.