Sidereal Messenger and Kepler's Dioptrics

unless it be continually stirred by the counterparts¹ of matters, obtruding themselves upon it from without, all recollection of the matters easily passes away from it.

But others, having regard for more stable and more lasting monuments, secured the eternity of the fame of great men by placing it under the protection, not of marble or bronze, but of the Muses' The nine Greek goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences. Here, the author suggests that writing and poetry are more durable than stone. guardianship and the imperishable monuments of literature. But why do I mention these things, as if human wit, content with these regions, did not dare to advance further; whereas, since she well understood that all human monuments do perish at last by violence, by weather, or by age, she took a wider view, and invented more imperishable signs, over which destroying Time and envious Age could claim no rights; so, betaking herself to the sky, she inscribed on the well-known orbs of the brightest stars—those everlasting orbs—the names of those who, for eminent and god-like deeds, were accounted worthy to enjoy an eternity in company with the stars. Wherefore the fame of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Hercules, and the rest of the heroes by whose names the stars are called, will not fade

¹ Compare Lucretius iv. 881:

original: "Dico animo nostro primum simulacra meandi Accidere, atque animum pulsare." This quote is from the Roman poet Lucretius. He is describing the "atomic" theory of vision and thought, where objects shed thin "counterparts" or films (simulacra) that physically strike our senses or mind to create a memory.