VISIO SECUNDA, cap. XXXI
The Seven Planets in Their Circles of Fire and Ether
Seven planets are arranged in three celestial circles—bright fire, dark fire, and pure ether—each rising from the east and returning after its circuit, with exactly three in each region to keep the fire balanced.
But above the head of the image already described, seven planets are set apart, rising up and distinct from one another: three in a single circle of bright fire, one also in the circle of dark fire beneath it, and three in the circle of pure ether beneath that. Each of them takes its start from the east, and as one passes another in the height of its circuit, when it has completed its course, it turns again toward the east so that it can run and return to its rising. And three are in the bright fire already mentioned, and one also in the circle of dark fire beneath it; but three below them have their courses in the pure ether, because those who run in the same fire are stirred up by that fire toward their own fires, and the same fire is strengthened for its own heat by their powers, just as wood is kindled by fire, and fire is reinforced to heat through the wood. And there are three, because if there were more, they would make the same fire burn too fiercely and confuse it with their circuits; or if there were fewer, the same fire, lacking the helpful support, would grow sluggish in its heat.
The Three Planets That Serve the Sun
Three planets in the bright fire illuminate, warm, and guide the sun's course so it can rightly govern the firmament and the whole world.
And the first, by its splendor, illuminates the brightness of the sun; the second, by its heat, serves the sun's heat; but the third, by its course, keeps the sun's course true. For when the sun is surrounded by these, it is guided and held firm, so that it may grant to the firmament and to the whole world a right balance by its heat and splendor.
The Three Planets of Pure Ether and the Moon's Guardian
Three planets in pure ether preserve its splendor in balanced number, while two planets near the moon protect it from burning too fiercely or dissolving entirely.
But three who are in the ether already mentioned — possessing purity from the fire above and the water below — run from it and are tested for the purity of splendor, and with their own purity they pour through it. And there are neither more nor fewer than three, because for strengthening that purity they neither are too many nor are too few, but they assist it with a fitting balance, and they do not burden it with excess or destroy it with weakness. And the one in the same ether that is above the moon helps it grow and protects it, so that it is not kindled too much; but the second, which is nearest to it, guards it from harm, so that it does not dissolve completely.
Planets in Service to the Whole World
The planets traverse and follow the moon in distinct, fitting service for the ordering of the entire world.
These [planets] as it were traverse the moon with their own service, and follow her, and they are urged on, each distinct and fitting, to the ordering of the whole world.1
God's Ordering of the Planets and Their Powers
A heading announcing how God, the founder of the world, arranged the planets in the firmament and their various efficacies.
How the same planets are arranged in the firmament by God, the founder of the world, and concerning their various efficacies.
Read the original Latin
Sed et super caput praedictae imaginis septem planetae sursum ab invicem designati sunt; tres in circulo uno lucidi ignis, unus etiam in subjecto illi circulo nigri ignis, tres autem in subjecto illi circulo puri aetheris, quoniam ab oriente initia sua quilibet eorum sumens, alterque alterum in altitudine circuitus sui transcendens, cum cursum suum compleverit, iterum versus orientem, ut currere possit, ortum suum repetit. Et tres in praedicto lucido igne, unus etiam in subjecto illi circulo nigri ignis; tres autem sub ipsis in puro aethere cursus suos habent, quoniam hi qui in eodem igne currunt, ab ipso igne ad ignes suos excitantur, idemque ignis a viribus illorum ad ardorem suum confortatur, quemadmodum ligna ab igne incenduntur, et ut ignis per ligna ad ardorem roboratur. Et tres sunt, quia si plures essent, eumdem ignem nimis ardere facerent, eumque circuitionibus suis confunderent; vel si pauciores forent, idem ignis, conveniente juvamine destitutus, in ardore suo torpesceret. Et primus spendore suo splendorem solis illustrat, secundus vero ardore suo ardorem soli administrat; tertius autem cursu suo cursum solis ad rectitudinem retentat. Cum his enim sol circumdatur, dirigitur et retinetur, quatenus firmamento omnique mundo rectum temperamentum calore et splendore suo tribuat. Sed tres qui in praedicto aethere, puritatem a superiore igne et a subteriore aqua habente, discurrunt, ab eodem ad puritatem splendoris examinantur, puritateque sua ipsum perfundunt. Et non plures nec pauciores quam tres sunt, quoniam ad confortationem puritatis illius nec superabundant, nec minus sufficiunt, sed congruenti temperamento ei assistunt, nec superfluitate ipsum aggravant, nec tenuitate destruunt. Et qui in eodem aethere primus super lunam est, illi ad incrementum succurrit, eamque protegit, ne supramodum accendatur; secundus autem, qui proximus ipsi existit, eam in detrimento conservat, ne tota dissolvatur.
Isti lunam quasi ministerio suo percurrunt, et subsequuntur, eamque ad totius mundi temperamentum distincte et convenienter exhortantur.
Quomodo iidem planetae a Deo mundi conditore in firmamento dispositi sint, et de variis ipsorum efficientiis.
Notes
- 1 ↩The sense of percurrunt and subsequuntur applied to planets in relation to the moon is unusual; the metaphor is that of attendant service. The rare word temperamentum here means a due ordering or proportion, not a temperamental disposition.
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