SAGR. What pity it is that Guns were not uſed in Ariſtotles
age, he would with help of them have eaſily battered down
norance, and ſpoke without hæſitation of theſe mundane points.
age, he would with help of them have eaſily battered down
norance, and ſpoke without hæſitation of theſe mundane points.
SALV. I am very glad that theſe reaſons are new unto you, that
ſo you may not reſt in the opinion of the major part of
ticks, who believe, that if any one forſakes the Doctrine of
ſtotle, it is becauſe they did not underſtand or rightly apprehend
his demonſtrations. But you may expect to hear of other
ties, and you ſhall ſee the followers of this new Syſteme produce
gainſt themſelves obſervations, experiences, and reaſons of farre
greater force than thoſe alledged by Aristotle, Ptolomy, and other
oppoſers of the ſame concluſions, and by this means you ſhall come
to aſcertain your ſelf that they were not induced through want of
knowledge or experience to follow that opinion.
ſo you may not reſt in the opinion of the major part of
ticks, who believe, that if any one forſakes the Doctrine of
ſtotle, it is becauſe they did not underſtand or rightly apprehend
his demonſtrations. But you may expect to hear of other
ties, and you ſhall ſee the followers of this new Syſteme produce
gainſt themſelves obſervations, experiences, and reaſons of farre
greater force than thoſe alledged by Aristotle, Ptolomy, and other
oppoſers of the ſame concluſions, and by this means you ſhall come
to aſcertain your ſelf that they were not induced through want of
knowledge or experience to follow that opinion.
SAGR. It is requiſite that upon this occaſion I relate unto you
ſome accidents that befell me, ſo ſoon as I firſt began to hear ſpeak
of this new doctrine. Being very young, and having ſcarcely
niſhed my courſe of Philoſophy, which I left off, as being ſet upon
other employments, there chanced to come into theſe parts a
tain Foreigner of Roſtock, whoſe name, as I remember, was Chri-
ſtianus Vurſtitius, a follower of Copernicus, who in an Academy
made two or three Lectures upon this point, to whom many flock't
as Auditors; but I thinking they went more for the novelty of the
ſubject than otherwiſe, did not go to hear him: for I had
ded with my ſelf that that opinion could be no other than a ſolemn
madneſſe. And queſtioning ſome of thoſe who had been there, I
perceived they all made a jeſt thereof, execpt one, who told me
that the buſineſſe was not altogether to be laugh't at, and becauſe
this man was reputed by me to be very intelligent and wary, I
pented that I was not there, and began from that time forward as
oft as I met with any one of the Copernican perſwaſion, to demand
of them, if they had been alwayes of the ſame judgment; and of as
many as I examined, I found not ſo much as one, who told me not
that he had been a long time of the contrary opinion, but to have
changed it for this, as convinced by the ſtrength of the reaſons
ving the ſame: and afterwards queſtioning them, one by one; to
ſee whether they were well poſſeſt of the reaſons of the other ſide;
I found them all to be very ready and perfect in them; ſo that I
could not truly ſay, that they had took up this opinion out of
norance, vanity, or to ſhew the acuteneſſe of their wits. On the
contrary, of as many of the Peripateticks and Ptolomeans as I
have asked (and out of curioſity I have talked with many) what
pains they had taken in the Book of Copernicus, I found very
ſome accidents that befell me, ſo ſoon as I firſt began to hear ſpeak
of this new doctrine. Being very young, and having ſcarcely
niſhed my courſe of Philoſophy, which I left off, as being ſet upon
other employments, there chanced to come into theſe parts a
tain Foreigner of Roſtock, whoſe name, as I remember, was Chri-
ſtianus Vurſtitius, a follower of Copernicus, who in an Academy
made two or three Lectures upon this point, to whom many flock't
as Auditors; but I thinking they went more for the novelty of the
ſubject than otherwiſe, did not go to hear him: for I had
ded with my ſelf that that opinion could be no other than a ſolemn
madneſſe. And queſtioning ſome of thoſe who had been there, I
perceived they all made a jeſt thereof, execpt one, who told me
that the buſineſſe was not altogether to be laugh't at, and becauſe
this man was reputed by me to be very intelligent and wary, I
pented that I was not there, and began from that time forward as
oft as I met with any one of the Copernican perſwaſion, to demand
of them, if they had been alwayes of the ſame judgment; and of as
many as I examined, I found not ſo much as one, who told me not
that he had been a long time of the contrary opinion, but to have
changed it for this, as convinced by the ſtrength of the reaſons
ving the ſame: and afterwards queſtioning them, one by one; to
ſee whether they were well poſſeſt of the reaſons of the other ſide;
I found them all to be very ready and perfect in them; ſo that I
could not truly ſay, that they had took up this opinion out of
norance, vanity, or to ſhew the acuteneſſe of their wits. On the
contrary, of as many of the Peripateticks and Ptolomeans as I
have asked (and out of curioſity I have talked with many) what
pains they had taken in the Book of Copernicus, I found very