VISIO SECUNDA, cap. X
The Fire and the Waters of Grace
The fiery and watery circles of the cosmos mirror how God's grace sanctifies the faithful and their humble works magnify the Creator's devotion.
The highest circle pours over the other circles as if with its own fire, yet the watery one waters all the others as if with its own moisture, because the upper element, which is fire, strengthens the rest with its own power and brightness, while the watery element sends greenness into the others by its own moistening; just so the power of God sanctifies faithful people in the wonders of his own grace, and the works of the faithful magnify the Creator's own devotion to them in the true humility of holiness.12
The Line of the Sun's Course
The line stretched across the wheel from sunrise to sunset is introduced as a mystical sign to be interpreted.
Concerning the line stretched across the prescribed wheel, as if from the sun's rising to its farthest setting, as it appears, and what this same thing signifies mystically.3
Read the original Latin
Supremus vero circulus velut igne suo caeteros circulos perfundit, aquosus autem alios omnes quasi humore suo rigat, quoniam superius elementum quod ignis est, caetera fortitudine et candore suo roborat, aquosum vero aliis viriditatem humectatione sua immittit, quemadmodum et potentia Dei in mirabilibus gratiae suae fideles homines sanctificat, opera autem fidelium Creatoris sui pietatem in vera humilitate sanctitatis magnificat.
De linea in praescriptam rotam quasi a primo solis ortu usque in extremum ejus occasum protensa apparente, et quid hoc idem gerat mystice.
Notes
- 1 ↩The passage is an extended analogy between elemental circles and God's action: the 'highest circle' (fire) and 'watery circle' figure divine power and grace. 'Opera autem fidelium Creatoris sui pietatem magnificat' is compressed: the sense is that the faithful, through their works, cause the Creator's devoted care for them to be shown forth in genuine holy humility.
- 2 ↩Pietas rendered 'devotion' here for the Creator's disposition toward the faithful, not 'piety' in the modern moralistic sense; the context is relational fidelity within holiness.
- 3 ↩The Latin heading uses a double construction: a prepositional phrase (De linea ... apparente) and an indirect question (quid ... gerat mystice). The rendering preserves both parts. 'Prescribed wheel' translates praescriptam rotam, following the gloss; the sense is a wheel laid out or determined by prior design.
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