Natural and Moral History of the Indies

and so, according to good consideration, in this great edifice of the world, all the sky would be on one side above, and all the earth on a different side below. The glorious Chrysostom, as one who had occupied himself more in the study of sacred letters than in that of human sciences, shows himself to be of this opinion. He mocks, in his commentaries on the Epistle to the Hebrews, those who affirm that the sky is entirely round; and it seems to him that the divine scripture intends to give another meaning, calling the sky a tabernacle, or a tent or canopy that God placed. And the saint even goes further there to say that it is not the sky that moves and travels, but rather that the Sun, the Moon, and the stars are what move in the sky, in the way that birds move through the air, and not as the philosophers think, that they revolve with the sky itself like the spokes with their wheel. Accompanying this view of Chrysostom are Theodoret, a grave author, and Theophylact, as he usually does in almost everything. And Lactantius Firmianus, before all those mentioned, feeling the same way, does not finish laughing and mocking the opinion of the Peripatetics and Academics, who give the sky a round shape and place the earth in the middle of the world, because it seems to him a laughing matter that the earth should hang in the air, as has been touched upon. From this, he comes to conform more with the opinion of Epicurus, who said there was nothing on the other side of the earth, but rather an infinite chaos and abyss. And it even seems to lean somewhat towards this what Saint Jerome says, writing on the Epistle to the Ephesians, with these words: "The natural philosopher passes with his consideration the height of the sky, and on the other side of the deep earth and abysses, he finds an immense void." They report of Procopius (though I have not seen it) that he affirms in his book on Genesis that the opinion of Aristotle regarding the shape and circular movement of the sky is contrary and repugnant to divine scripture. But that

Chrysostom, Homily 14 & 27 on the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Hebrews 8.

Idem. Chrysostom, Homily 6 & 13 on Genesis & Homily 12 to the people of Antioch.

Theodoret & Theophylact on chapter 8 to the Hebrews. Lactantius, Book 3 of Divine Institutes, c. 24.

Jerome on the Epistle to the Ephesians, Book 2, chapter 4.

Sixtus Senensis, Book 5, Library, annotation 3.