To the Moſt
Reverend Father
SEBASTIANO FANTONI,
General of the Order of
CARMELITES.
Reverend Father
SEBASTIANO FANTONI,
General of the Order of
CARMELITES.
In obedience to the command of the No
ble Signore Vincenzo Carraffa, a Neapo
litan, and Knight of S. John of Jeru
ſalem, (a perſon, to ſpeak the truth, of
ſo great Merit, that in him Nobility of
Birth, Affability of Manners, Univerſal
knowledge of Arts and things, Piety
and Vertue do all contend for prehemi
nence) I reſolved with my ſelf to un
dertake the Defence of the Writings of the New, or rather Re
newed, and from the Duſt of Oblivion (in which it hath long
lain hid) lately Revived Opinion, Of the Mobility of the Earth,
and Stability of the Sun, in times paſt found out firſt by Pytha
goras, and at laſt reduced into Practice by Copernicus; who like
wiſe hath deduced the Poſition of the Syſteme and Conſtitution
of the World and its parts from that Hypotheſis: on which
Subject I have formerly writ to You, Moſt Reverend Sir: But
in regard I am bound for Rome to preach there by your Com
mand; and ſince this Speculation may ſeem more proper for a
nother Treatiſe, to wit, a Volume of Coſmography, which I am
in hand with, and which I am daily buſie about, that it may
come forth in company with my Compendium of the Liberal Arts,
which I have already finiſhed, rather than now to diſcuſs it by it
ſelf, I thought to forbear, imparting what I have done for the
preſent; Yet I was deſirous to give, in the mean time, a brief ac
count of this my Determination, and to ſhew You, Moſt Reve
rend Father, (to whom I owe all my indeavours, and my very
ſelf) the Foundations on which this Opinion may be grounded,
leaſt, whilſt otherwiſe it is favoured with much probability, it be
found in reality to be extreamly repugnant (as at firſt ſight it
ble Signore Vincenzo Carraffa, a Neapo
litan, and Knight of S. John of Jeru
ſalem, (a perſon, to ſpeak the truth, of
ſo great Merit, that in him Nobility of
Birth, Affability of Manners, Univerſal
knowledge of Arts and things, Piety
and Vertue do all contend for prehemi
nence) I reſolved with my ſelf to un
dertake the Defence of the Writings of the New, or rather Re
newed, and from the Duſt of Oblivion (in which it hath long
lain hid) lately Revived Opinion, Of the Mobility of the Earth,
and Stability of the Sun, in times paſt found out firſt by Pytha
goras, and at laſt reduced into Practice by Copernicus; who like
wiſe hath deduced the Poſition of the Syſteme and Conſtitution
of the World and its parts from that Hypotheſis: on which
Subject I have formerly writ to You, Moſt Reverend Sir: But
in regard I am bound for Rome to preach there by your Com
mand; and ſince this Speculation may ſeem more proper for a
nother Treatiſe, to wit, a Volume of Coſmography, which I am
in hand with, and which I am daily buſie about, that it may
come forth in company with my Compendium of the Liberal Arts,
which I have already finiſhed, rather than now to diſcuſs it by it
ſelf, I thought to forbear, imparting what I have done for the
preſent; Yet I was deſirous to give, in the mean time, a brief ac
count of this my Determination, and to ſhew You, Moſt Reve
rend Father, (to whom I owe all my indeavours, and my very
ſelf) the Foundations on which this Opinion may be grounded,
leaſt, whilſt otherwiſe it is favoured with much probability, it be
found in reality to be extreamly repugnant (as at firſt ſight it