Previously Unpublished Works, Fascicle 1

but especially in the second Bacon refers to the second part of the work by Herman the Dalmatian, a 12th-century translator and astronomer., he says in the sixth book:

"In the first decan A decan is a ten-degree subdivision of a zodiac sign, used in ancient astrology to determine specific influences. of the Virgin, as the Persians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians say, along with their leaders Hermes and Astabus. From the earliest age they teach: a pure virgin, a young girl I say, an immaculate virgin, beautiful in body, modest in face, nursing a boy... in a place named Hebraea (that is, in the land of the Hebrews), a boy, I say, called Jesus by certain nations, whom we in Greek call Christ."

On the birth of Christ which the ancient astrologers predicted.

Nor can this be referred only to a constellation in the sky, because he says "in a place named Hebraea," where the Lord was born, as he says elsewhere. Likewise, other astronomers have taken this literally as referring to the birth of the Lord. And regarding that saying of Boethius in On the Discipline of Scholars, "the proven divinity of Plato," one reads in the commentary Bacon refers to a story popular in the Middle Ages, though the editor notes it is not found in the famous commentary by Thomas Aquinas. that a golden plate was found in Plato’s tomb upon his breast, on which was written:

"I believe in Christ, who is to be born of a virgin, to suffer for the human race, and to rise again on the third day."

And the philosopher Aethicus Aethicus Ister, the purported author of a Cosmography often cited by Bacon. says beautifully in the aforementioned book:

"The righteous shall deserve to see the Lord their God, and Christ their king, and the signs and shapes of the nails... and the Word of the Father and the Beginning, arranging all things with him."

He says many other things. Similarly, the philosopher Alchimus says the same and similar things, as is evident in their books, and Blessed Jerome is a witness. And if we turn our attention to the "discernment of Naso" Naso is the surname of the Roman poet Ovid. Medieval scholars often tried to find Christian allegories in his work.—for so Boethius speaks of him—the reason invites us to consider his books. He spoke more wonderfully than all others in the book On the Change of His Life, which is titled by another name, the Book of the Old Woman The De Vetula was a medieval poem falsely attributed to Ovid. It portrays the poet converting from a life of worldly love to one of scientific and religious contemplation., on account of which the change is said to have been made. In it, the author converts from vanity to truth, and from contempt of this world to the consideration of another world, inquiring into the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and many clear points of the faith.