1nious, and to outward appearance moſt powerful, you may ſee
how much more acute and ingenious the ſolution muſt be, and
not to be found by a wit leſſe piercing than that of Copernicus;
and again from the difficulty in underſtanding it, you may argue
the ſo much greater difficulty in finding it. But let us for the
ſent ſuſpend our anſwer, which you ſhall underſtand in due time
and place, after we have repeated the objection of Ariſtotle, and
that in his favour, much ſtrengthened. Now paſſe we to Ari-
ſtotles third Argument, touching which we need give no farther
reply, it having been ſufficiently anſwered betwixt the diſcourſes
of yeſterday and to day: In as much as he urgeth, that the
tion of grave bodies is naturally by a right line to the centre; and
then enquireth, whether to the centre of the Earth, or to that
of the Univerſe, and concludeth that they tend naturally to the
centre of the Univerſe, but accidentally to that of the Earth.
Therefore we may proceed to the fourth, upon which its requiſite
that we ſtay ſome time, by reaſon it is founded upon that
riment, from whence the greater part of the remaining
ments derive all their ſtrength. Ariſtotle ſaith therefore, that it is
a moſt convincing argument of the Earths immobility, to ſee
that projections thrown or ſhot upright, return perpendicularly
by the ſame line unto the ſame place from whence they were ſhot
or thrown. And this holdeth true, although the motion be of a
very great height; which could never come to paſſe, did the
Earth move: for in the time that the projected body is moving
upwards and downwards in a ſtate of ſeparation from the Earth,
the place from whence the motion of the projection began, would
be paſt, by means of the Earths revolution, a great way
wards the Eaſt, and look how great that ſpace was, ſo far from
that place would the projected body in its deſcent come to the
ground. So that hither may be referred the argument taken from
a bullet ſhot from a Canon directly upwards; as alſo that other
uſed by Ariſtotle and Ptolomy, of the grave bodies that falling
from on high, are obſerved to deſcend by a direct and
lar line to the ſurface of the Earth. Now that I may begin to untie
theſe knots, I demand of Simplicius that in caſe one ſhould deny
to Ptolomy and Ariſtotle that weights in falling freely from on
high, deſcend by a right and perpendicular line, that is, directly
to the centre, what means he would uſe to prove it?
how much more acute and ingenious the ſolution muſt be, and
not to be found by a wit leſſe piercing than that of Copernicus;
and again from the difficulty in underſtanding it, you may argue
the ſo much greater difficulty in finding it. But let us for the
ſent ſuſpend our anſwer, which you ſhall underſtand in due time
and place, after we have repeated the objection of Ariſtotle, and
that in his favour, much ſtrengthened. Now paſſe we to Ari-
ſtotles third Argument, touching which we need give no farther
reply, it having been ſufficiently anſwered betwixt the diſcourſes
of yeſterday and to day: In as much as he urgeth, that the
tion of grave bodies is naturally by a right line to the centre; and
then enquireth, whether to the centre of the Earth, or to that
of the Univerſe, and concludeth that they tend naturally to the
centre of the Univerſe, but accidentally to that of the Earth.
Therefore we may proceed to the fourth, upon which its requiſite
that we ſtay ſome time, by reaſon it is founded upon that
riment, from whence the greater part of the remaining
ments derive all their ſtrength. Ariſtotle ſaith therefore, that it is
a moſt convincing argument of the Earths immobility, to ſee
that projections thrown or ſhot upright, return perpendicularly
by the ſame line unto the ſame place from whence they were ſhot
or thrown. And this holdeth true, although the motion be of a
very great height; which could never come to paſſe, did the
Earth move: for in the time that the projected body is moving
upwards and downwards in a ſtate of ſeparation from the Earth,
the place from whence the motion of the projection began, would
be paſt, by means of the Earths revolution, a great way
wards the Eaſt, and look how great that ſpace was, ſo far from
that place would the projected body in its deſcent come to the
ground. So that hither may be referred the argument taken from
a bullet ſhot from a Canon directly upwards; as alſo that other
uſed by Ariſtotle and Ptolomy, of the grave bodies that falling
from on high, are obſerved to deſcend by a direct and
lar line to the ſurface of the Earth. Now that I may begin to untie
theſe knots, I demand of Simplicius that in caſe one ſhould deny
to Ptolomy and Ariſtotle that weights in falling freely from on
high, deſcend by a right and perpendicular line, that is, directly
to the centre, what means he would uſe to prove it?
SIMPL. The means of the ſenſes; the which aſſureth us, that
that Tower or other altitude, is upright and perpendicular, and
ſheweth us that that ſtone, or other grave body, doth ſlide along
the Wall, without inclining a hairs breadth to one ſide or
ther, and light at the foot thereof juſt under the place from whence
it was let fall.
that Tower or other altitude, is upright and perpendicular, and
ſheweth us that that ſtone, or other grave body, doth ſlide along
the Wall, without inclining a hairs breadth to one ſide or
ther, and light at the foot thereof juſt under the place from whence
it was let fall.