13 On astronomy and geography (1536) CR XI, 292–8
13 On astronomy and geography (1536)
CR XI, 292–8
Oration on astronomy and geography held at Wittenberg1
There is an old story about an oracle of the sibyl concerning Athens – that two banes would be its ruin, namely deceit and the stupidity of its leaders. However, if we consider the everyday life of men and the destruction of realms, the sibyl was prophesying not only for Athens but for all cities and empires. In the past, Germany excelled both in the greatness of minds and in the truth, honesty and faith of its counsels. Nowadays people contend with ruses, righteous intentions are made sport of, and the ancient desire for military glory and courage are extinct. Therefore you can see that there is no help in such public danger, not only in Germany, but also in the rest of Europe. When I think about this, I am distressed in my mind for the Church and for our studies, both of which are particularly threatened with devastation and ruin by the savagery of the Turks.2 Although dangerous hardship is imminent, as there are many signs not only in the stars, but also in the morals of men, I nevertheless sustain myself by the hope that God will care for the Church, and that the Son of God will defend our assemblies, as Daniel foretold. Therefore, young men, these our studies are not to be cast away in desperation of rewards or of salvation. On the contrary, they are to be kindled even more enthusiastically, so that they may be preserved even in the midst of enemies, if that is what destiny brings. And because these our assemblies are part of the Church, every time we gather together, every time we think of our studies, let pious prayers be added, and let us pray to God, the Father of our Saviour Jesus Christ, that He may protect the Church and honest studies, and save and guide us.
I wanted to say this in advance, because in these assemblies it is most fitting for us to think of our studies as well as of the universal perils, and to join our prayers together. For the saying of Christ concerns these assemblies as well, when He said that He would be there wherever two or three gathered in His name [Matthew 18:28]. As the duty of my office imposes on me the need to speak here, I have decided to speak of the art which I profess, that is, of the science that teaches the laws of the movements of the heavens, and
1 Melanchthon was Dean of the faculty of arts at the end of year 1536.
2 This probably alludes to the campaigns of Suleiman in 1526, 1529 and 1532 during which Hungary, Transylvania and Moldavia were conquered. In 1529 Ottoman armies even entered Vienna briefly before withdrawing.
indicates the sizes, spaces, distances and boundaries of the regions. Even though I know that in this university these divine arts are not disparaged, it is nevertheless our duty – since they are practised more sluggishly than they should be – to incite and rouse, as much as we can, in every way, the young to study. In this matter I should wish for us to be helped by princes, just as in Egypt the generosity of the kings invited men of genius to practise and explain these arts; and, more recently, 300 years ago, when those in the West had not even a shadow of that refined science, that most ingenious prince the Emperor Frederick II3 took charge of having it translated into Latin from the Arabic records, and of having it restored in any way whatever at great expense. And there is much evidence which shows that the most ancient kings were devoted to this art, such as Atlas, Orion or Chiron. Therefore grateful posterity assigned their names to stars in order to indicate that they received from them the science of the movements of the heavens and the description of the year. And in Lucan [Pharsalia x. 185f.] Caesar says about himself: ‘In the midst of war I ever found time to study the world above us and the starry and celestial zones.’4 It is well known that the Emperor Charles V understands the heavenly science almost like an expert, and loves it so much that when he has a pause for rest he does not assuage his mind by games or pleasures, but by discussions about that most agreeable science. I know that, sitting in the baths, when he had to take time for the treatment of his foot, he tricked leisure by skilfully describing clocks. I know that he is most diligent at seeking the longitude and latitude of regions, so that at sea he can direct the course by looking at the sky. What is nobler for a great prince than to refresh the tired mind by such pleasure?
Would that others imitated this most noble example, and offered prizes to men of talent; if they did so, these arts could be preserved and explained more. But it often comes to my mind that the arts, together with the sky, grow old and are extinguished gradually, and that the end of the world is foretold by their ruin. Nevertheless, in the meantime eminent minds, which originate from heaven, should think of their home and should contemplate it now and again, and declare that that most beautiful sight of the bodies and movements of the heavens is not displayed to men in vain. They
3 Frederick II (1194–1250), Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily, had a predilection for Arabic philosophy, on which he was probably guided by Michael Scot, the translator of Averroes' translation of Aristotle's De Caelo and De anima and of Avicenna. See Thomas Curtis van Cleve, The Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Immutator Mundi (Oxford, 1972), pp. 299–318.
4 As translated by J. D. Duff in Lucan, Pharsalia (Cambridge, MA, and London, 1969), p. 603.
should inquire into the order of these admirable things, which, as it is most suited to the nature of man, also brings great benefits for life. I shall expound some of those briefly, for reasons of time, and I shall speak only of the science of the movements and of boundaries of regions, leaving out the part of divination, lest I attract some criticism to myself.
As it is most befitting in all things to start with God, so, in this consideration of studies, we should be reminded of the Architect when we contemplate heaven itself. We should consider that He neither established this marvellous order in vain nor handed down the knowledge of these movements to humankind without reason. If someone does not think about this, how does he differ from a Cyclops who, spending his life in a cave, neither looks up to heaven nor worships any eternal god? However, if someone, as it is proper for human nature, makes much of God's gifts he must declare that the laws of these motions were established, and the knowledge handed down, for the sake of great benefits.
The usefulness of the movements is clear for all to see. What could be more agreeable for the preservation of living beings than the alternating of days and nights, and what could be more beneficial to the fertility of the earth for bringing forth produce of the fields and for nourishing living beings than the varying weather of spring, summer, autumn and winter? The Maker has put such diligence into them that he not only determined the periods to be measured by the movements of the sun and the moon, but he also added their powers, so that the earth would at times be warmed by fertile warmth, at other times moistened, at others dried out and at others left to rest bound in ice. In order that we would understand that this was done with purpose, he joined to the sun the rising and setting of certain constellations appropriate to the single parts of the year. After the spring sowing the Hyades set, of which Pliny [Natural History xvIII.lxvi.247] says that it is a violent constellation that causes disorder on land and sea. This is established in such a way, because at that time the earth needs watering. During the harvest dry weather is needed. Therefore the lesser Dog Star then increases the heat. In the same way certain risings and settings are appropriate to the remaining parts of the year. These benefits are known which, as Xenophon says, give evidence that the Architect greatly loves our kind, since he provided for our needs so assiduously; as Xenophon himself says, he is loving of mankind (philanthrōpos). However, these things can perhaps be observed without science, although the order is perceived better with the added benefit of erudition.
I shall therefore speak of the benefits which are lost when science is neglected. Moses said [Genesis 1:14] that the seasons, days and years would be for signs. He explained this heavenly oracle to humankind so that they would learn to observe certain boundaries in the year, set up by divine providence, and to consider the periods of the year. This can by no means be done without erudition or knowledge of the movements. Therefore God added a shadow that instructs us, so that we can observe the equinoxes and the revolutions of the sun, He added the science of numbers and measures, which lifts the minds up to heaven, so that we can distinguish the fixed paths of the stars and their boundaries as if with our own eyes. Thus the first ancestors, and then the more educated offspring, and some of them of the greatest talent, always took pains with observing the revolving of the year, in order to preserve a fixed order of seasons. Their service has to be welcome to us, and their ingenuity, diligence, constancy and their wish to do good to humankind must be praised. There are many illustrious proofs of ingenuity and diligence, such as the prediction of eclipses and the description of the year, the revolution of which can be understood with great certainty, at least as far as that is possible.
People have approached this in various ways. The most ancient ancients perceived that the true length of a year was the return of the sun to a certain fixed star. Then, when some centuries later it was noticed that the stars had progressed, another way had to be sought. Therefore Meton, of whom they write that he lived in Athens, an ancestor, I believe, of Empedocles, defined the year as the return to the same point of summer solstice. Since for the Athenians the beginning of the year was the summer solstice, he established that as the preferred mark. Then, after the age of Alexander, Hipparchus preferred to observe the equinoxes rather than the solstices, because the variation, of a few days around the solstices, of the inclination towards the equator cannot be discerned by the senses. Therefore Hipparchus defined the year as the return of the sun to the same point of equinox. Following him Ptolemy, adding his observations as well, nevertheless handed down a computation of the year that was more consistent than the above, that is of 365 days, 6 hours, minus the three-hundredth part of a day. This diligence was not yet satisfactory to posterity, for Albategnius5 in the seven hundred and forty-third year after Ptolemy, that
5 There seems to be some confusion about dates. Al-Battani (d. 929) was usually known in the Latin West as Albategnius. His astronomical tract based on Ptolemaic astronomy was published as the De motu stellarum for the first time in 1537: see note 7, oration 29, p. 240.
is, before our times, around the year 600, perceived that there was need for emendation after Ptolemy. Then again most learned men followed the first path with some corrections, and preferred the year to be the return of the sun to a certain fixed star, since in that way there appears less fluctuation of the course of the year over longer periods.
I have recounted these things so that you may admire the diligence of those excellent men who strove to transmit to us a fixed calendar and a fixed description of the year. Just think what a service it is. For if these masters had not preserved this sequence of seasons for us, what darkness would there be in religions and all of history, and what confusion of all life? We would not be able to understand and locate the beginnings of the world, we would not know which religions were earlier and which later; the succession of realms would be unknown and so would the beginnings and propagation of the Church. In order that we may know all these things God enjoins us to learn what the year is, and shows us that the year contains twelve months and establishes the beginning in the equinox. For the first men these things were the seeds of this science. Therefore, admonished by that heavenly voice, let us ponder the benefits, and let us embrace, love and cherish God's gift. The science of the heavenly movements and geography are connected with one another, and they cannot be torn apart. Who is so inexperienced in public life or so without common sense as to believe that life can make do without the art that shows the position of regions, their distances and natures?
No navigation and no slightly longer journey can be undertaken or conducted with certainty by those who are ignorant of this art. What is there in the prophetic scriptures on how the Church wandered and what was done where, from where one could judge, if that skilful description of regions were lacking? Every day, in our prayers, we need to contemplate the land where the Son of God dwelt and was made a sacrifice, and we need to think of the place where the heavenly voice first sounded. For God wants to be invoked so that at the same time we think of His son's sacrifice and of His promises. Since the prayers of the mind need to dwell in these places every day, what sloth not to think where in all the lands they are! Even the uneducated wish to see these in paintings. And if the art of geography did not exist, all men would think that the earth was something infinite, and would know only the size and distances of the regions that are nearby. Many grave errors in life would originate from that. Now indeed, how agreeable and how useful it is to understand in the mind the entire
circumference of the earth, comprehended by a determined, easy and short computation. If you consider it in your thoughts as well as with your eyes, you may even be surprised at its smallness, as it is 5,400 in our miles. Without the science of the heavenly movements, this cannot be enclosed in fixed descriptions as within borders.
I would say how much pleasantness and sweetness there is to that science, if I could expound it in words. But these things need to be known by experience. For each one the activity most appropriate to his nature is the most agreeable one, such as swimming for fish or singing for the nightingale; so men are necessarily affected by great pleasure when they contemplate the entire nature of things, when they find the proportions of numbers and magnitudes when they perceive the harmony and agreement of the heavenly and the inferior bodies and when they see that everything is made by a fixed law, in order to remind us of the Architect. If we are born for that contemplation, it must needs be a pleasure to natures that are neither preternatural nor distorted. Although I said in advance at the beginning that I would not talk about the part containing divination, let me add nevertheless that the science of the heavenly movements is in itself an art of foretelling (mantikē), and an outstanding and most certain divination ruling all of life. For these laws of the motions are evidence that the world has not originated by chance, but that it was created by an eternal mind, and that this creator cares about human nature. Since the laws of the motions demonstrate this clearly, it cannot be denied that this science is divination (mantikē) of the greatest thing. For this notion about God and providence assuredly rouses minds to virtue. The natural philosopher predicts rain when the south and west winds are blowing, clear weather when it is the north wind. How much more profitable is divination for assuring minds of providence, so that they may not imagine that the world exists by chance. It was for a great cause that God displayed to us this evidence of Himself. For, if we learn from it that God is the ruler of all things, we understand that one needs to obey Him, we recognise that order was installed by Him, both in our minds and in political society, and that punishments are set for those who confound this order; not even the Titans could escape them, even if, to entrench themselves, they dared stack Mt Pelion on top of Mt Ossa [Virgil, Georgics 1.281]. Moreover, the order of heavenly laws also gives us many admonitions regarding God and morals, testifying that the changes of things are made for the benefit of humankind. Therefore Plato said sagaciously that only that man is happy who has learnt this science,
and that only he can guide morals, and only he is moderate, just and useful to the citizens. I add Plato's words so that the voice and authority of such a great man may stir you up to the love and the study of these foremost arts. Nature has only one bond, namely the science of numbers, figures and heavenly movements, and if anyone seeks a different way to learning, let him invoke fortune,6 as they say. For without these no one can ever be happy anywhere. This is the way, the education and the discipline, be it easy or difficult. It is necessary to pass through it, and it is not lawful to neglect God, who, to our benefit, bestowed the tradition about Himself on humankind in these arts. These are Plato's words; think about them, how wisely it is said that the tradition of God can be heard in these arts, which means that in the knowledge of the order of numbers and of the heavenly bodies it is necessarily established for us that the world has been created by an eternal mind. In fact, the very science of which we are speaking is mantikē, even if we do not investigate the other kinds of divination, of the alterations of air and of our bodies; not all of this is altogether useless, if it is contained within the right limits.
Since, therefore, the science of the heavenly movements is full of knowledge, it is useful in life for the distinction of seasons and regions, it is most agreeable, it strengthens in the minds the worthy notion of God and, since there is an opportunity to learn it, I encourage good minds to devote themselves to these studies, both for their own sake and for that of the state, for which we must preserve the noble arts that are useful for life. I have spoken.
6 Erasmus explains that the invocation ‘bonae fortunae’ (here's luck!) may be more amusing if turned to somebody who ventures something trivial with as much bother as if it were of the greatest importance: Adages, 1.vi.53.