SALV. You ſay very well; but you alledge nothing in that
which may favour the cauſe of the Ptolomœans in the leaſt, who
did never yet reject the motion of 36000. years in the ſtarry
Sphere, for that the ſaid tardity would make it too vaſt and
menſe. For if that the ſaid immenſity was not to be ſuppoſed in
Nature, they ought before now to to have denied a converſion
ſo ſlow as that it could not with good proportion adapt it ſelf,
ſave onely to a Sphere of monſtrous magnitude.
which may favour the cauſe of the Ptolomœans in the leaſt, who
did never yet reject the motion of 36000. years in the ſtarry
Sphere, for that the ſaid tardity would make it too vaſt and
menſe. For if that the ſaid immenſity was not to be ſuppoſed in
Nature, they ought before now to to have denied a converſion
ſo ſlow as that it could not with good proportion adapt it ſelf,
ſave onely to a Sphere of monſtrous magnitude.
SAGR. Pray you, Salviatus, let us loſe no more time in
ceeding, by the way of theſe proportions with people that are apt
to admit things moſt diſ-proportionate; ſo that its impoſſible
to win any thing upon them this way: and what more
tionate proportion can be imagined than that which theſe men
ſwallow down, and admit, in that writing, that there cannot be a
more convenient way to diſpoſe the Cœleſtial Spheres, in order,
than to regulate them by the differences of the times of their
riods, placing from one degree to another the more flow above
the more ſwift, when they have conſtituted the Starry Sphere
higher than the reſt, as being the ſloweſt, they frame another
higher ſtill than that, and conſequently greater, and make it
volve in twenty four hours, whilſt the next below, it moves not
round under 36000. years?
ceeding, by the way of theſe proportions with people that are apt
to admit things moſt diſ-proportionate; ſo that its impoſſible
to win any thing upon them this way: and what more
tionate proportion can be imagined than that which theſe men
ſwallow down, and admit, in that writing, that there cannot be a
more convenient way to diſpoſe the Cœleſtial Spheres, in order,
than to regulate them by the differences of the times of their
riods, placing from one degree to another the more flow above
the more ſwift, when they have conſtituted the Starry Sphere
higher than the reſt, as being the ſloweſt, they frame another
higher ſtill than that, and conſequently greater, and make it
volve in twenty four hours, whilſt the next below, it moves not
round under 36000. years?
SALV. I could wiſh, Simplicius, that ſuſpending for a time
the affection rhat you bear to the followers of your opinion, you
would ſincerely tell me, whether you think that they do in their
minds comprehend that magnitude, which they reject afterwards
as uncapable for its immenſity to be aſcribed to the Univerſe.
For I, as to my own part, think that they do not; But believe,
that like as in the apprehenſion of numbers, when once a man
begins to paſſe thoſe millions of millions, the imagination is
founded, and can no longer form a conceipt of the ſame, ſo it
happens alſo in comprehending immenſe magnitudes and
ces; ſo that there intervenes to the comprehenſion an effect like
to that which befalleth the ſenſe; For whileſt that in a ſerene
night I look towards the Stars, I judge, according to ſenſe, that
their diſtance is but a few miles, and that the fixed Stars are not a
jot more remote than Jupiter or Saturn, nay than the Moon.
But without more ado, conſider the controverſies that have paſt
between the Aſtronomers and Peripatetick Philoſophers, upon
occaſion of the new Stars of Caſſiopeia and of Sagittary, the
ſtronomers placing them amongſt the fixed Stars, and the
ſophers believing them to be below the Moon. So unable is our
ſenſe to diſtinguiſh great diſtances from the greateſt, though theſe
be in reality many thouſand times greater than thoſe. In a word,
I ask of thee, O fooliſh man! Doth thy imagination comprehend
the affection rhat you bear to the followers of your opinion, you
would ſincerely tell me, whether you think that they do in their
minds comprehend that magnitude, which they reject afterwards
as uncapable for its immenſity to be aſcribed to the Univerſe.
For I, as to my own part, think that they do not; But believe,
that like as in the apprehenſion of numbers, when once a man
begins to paſſe thoſe millions of millions, the imagination is
founded, and can no longer form a conceipt of the ſame, ſo it
happens alſo in comprehending immenſe magnitudes and
ces; ſo that there intervenes to the comprehenſion an effect like
to that which befalleth the ſenſe; For whileſt that in a ſerene
night I look towards the Stars, I judge, according to ſenſe, that
their diſtance is but a few miles, and that the fixed Stars are not a
jot more remote than Jupiter or Saturn, nay than the Moon.
But without more ado, conſider the controverſies that have paſt
between the Aſtronomers and Peripatetick Philoſophers, upon
occaſion of the new Stars of Caſſiopeia and of Sagittary, the
ſtronomers placing them amongſt the fixed Stars, and the
ſophers believing them to be below the Moon. So unable is our
ſenſe to diſtinguiſh great diſtances from the greateſt, though theſe
be in reality many thouſand times greater than thoſe. In a word,
I ask of thee, O fooliſh man! Doth thy imagination comprehend
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