141129That the Moon may be a World.
The Prieſt of Saturn relating to Plutarch
(as he feigns it) the nature of theſe Selenites,
told him, they were of divers diſpoſitions,
ſome deſiring to live in the lower parts of the
Moon, where they might look downwards
upon us, while others were more ſurely moun-
ted aloft, all of them ſhining like the Rays of
the Sun, and as being Victorious, are Crow-
ned with Garlands made with the Wings of
Euſtathia or Gonſtancie.
(as he feigns it) the nature of theſe Selenites,
told him, they were of divers diſpoſitions,
ſome deſiring to live in the lower parts of the
Moon, where they might look downwards
upon us, while others were more ſurely moun-
ted aloft, all of them ſhining like the Rays of
the Sun, and as being Victorious, are Crow-
ned with Garlands made with the Wings of
Euſtathia or Gonſtancie.
It hath been the Opinion amongſt ſome of
the Ancients, that their Heavens and Elyſian
Fields were in the Moon where the Air is moſt
quiet and pure. Thus Socrates, thus Plato, with
11Nat. Com.
l. 3. c. 19 his Followers, did eſteem this to be the place
where thoſe purer Souls inhabit, who are
freed from the Sepulcher, and Contagion of
the Body: And by the Fable of Geres, con-
tinually wandring in ſearch of her Daughter
Proſerpina, is meant nothing elſe but the long-
ing deſire of Men, who live upon Geres Earth,
to attain a place in Proſerpina, the Moon Hea-
ven.
the Ancients, that their Heavens and Elyſian
Fields were in the Moon where the Air is moſt
quiet and pure. Thus Socrates, thus Plato, with
11Nat. Com.
l. 3. c. 19 his Followers, did eſteem this to be the place
where thoſe purer Souls inhabit, who are
freed from the Sepulcher, and Contagion of
the Body: And by the Fable of Geres, con-
tinually wandring in ſearch of her Daughter
Proſerpina, is meant nothing elſe but the long-
ing deſire of Men, who live upon Geres Earth,
to attain a place in Proſerpina, the Moon Hea-
ven.
Plutarch alſo ſeems to aſſent unto this;
but
he thinks moreover, that there are two places
of happineſs anſwerable to thoſe two parts
which he fancies to remain of a Man when he
is Dead, the Soul and the Underſtanding; the
Soul he thinks is made of the Moon; and as
our Bodies do ſo proceed from the Duſt of this
Earth, that they ſhall return to it hereafter;
ſo our Souls were generated out of that Pla-
net, and ſhall be reſolved into it again; where-
as the underſtanding ſhall aſcend unto the Sun,
out of which it was made, where it ſhall
he thinks moreover, that there are two places
of happineſs anſwerable to thoſe two parts
which he fancies to remain of a Man when he
is Dead, the Soul and the Underſtanding; the
Soul he thinks is made of the Moon; and as
our Bodies do ſo proceed from the Duſt of this
Earth, that they ſhall return to it hereafter;
ſo our Souls were generated out of that Pla-
net, and ſhall be reſolved into it again; where-
as the underſtanding ſhall aſcend unto the Sun,
out of which it was made, where it ſhall