Castigationes Plinianae et in Pomponium Melam

SECOND

...from the sun, they are scorched. But what is added immediately after: "The third vastness is opened from each of the sun." Most people think the understanding is faulty and depraved, either null or inept. What if it should be read: "Each openness reveals the vastness of the sun," so that the meaning is about the degree and the Moon, [to see] which of the two is greater? Of the Sun, in no way. But the reading can also be preserved so that the meaning is: from the incidents of two things, that is, the Moon and the Earth, the vastness of the Sun is clearly shown, which Macrobius also commemorates in his Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.

From chapter twelve.

"Thales of Miletus [predicted] the aforementioned eclipse of the sun, which happened in the reign of Halyattes." I do not accuse Pliny nor the scribes. But M. Cicero, in the first book On Divination, hands down that Thales predicted the eclipse of the sun that occurred when Astyages was king. Concerning this Astyages, others [write], as well as Valerius and Trogus.

From chapter fifteen.

"The Earth is the center of the sky, not of the zodiac, which is oblique between them." It should be read: "And not of the zodiac." For although the vertices—that is, the poles—of the zodiac and of the world are not the same, nothing prevents the center from being the same for both. Martianus himself says: "The zodiac and the signs clinging to the sky hold an interval from the earth that is equal on all sides."

From chapter sixteen.

"And the same motion is sometimes less." It should be read: "And the same motion is sometimes greater, sometimes less," and below: "They are carried with a motion as much smaller." One must write not "smaller" but "lesser" original: "minore".

From the same chapter sixteen.

"Never further than forty-six parts." Some think the passage is corrupt. Porphyry hands down that Venus is removed forty-seven [parts] from the sun. It is nothing to wonder at; neither computation is scrupulous and exquisite. But it refers to that which happens for the most part. Theon certainly asserts the same thing that Pliny does; others, with Ptolemy, distinguish: at the morning rising, through the beginning of Scorpio, forty-six parts; at the evening [setting], forty-seven in Aquarius. Martianus: "Venus is separated from the sun by one sign and one-half part." Elsewhere: "Venus," he says, "departs fifty moments from the orb of the sun, although it cannot stray more than forty-six parts."

From chapter seventeen.

"Mercury may depart twenty [parts] from the sun." Some read "twenty-two," from Pliny above, as I have advised. But they should remember what Martianus Capella, a man more learned than he is lucid, hands down. "Mercury," he says, "has two settings: one when it is accustomed to appear before the Sun and is hidden by the brightness of the approaching ray; the other when, with its retrograde motion, it is brought near the Sun and suffers the same in setting. For it cannot," he says, "be further than twenty moments from the light of the Sun itself, although it may have strayed by greater parts; it cannot be found beyond the second sign." The same author says: "Mercury has never departed more than thirty-two parts from the Sun, nor been distant by two signs." Cicero, in On the Nature of the Gods, is safer and better: "Mercury," he says, "never departs further from the Sun than the interval of one sign, either preceding or following." The same [Cicero]: "Venus," he says, "never departs further from the Sun than the interval of two signs, either preceding or following."

From chapter twenty-two.

Sefquialterum (One and a half)

Hemiolion (Ratio of 3:2)

Sefquiplae (Ratio of 3:2)

Viurae (Usury)

Sefcupium. I interpret this as sesquipium, that is, sesquialterum a ratio of one and a half, which the Greeks call hemiolion. In the same way, the reading is corrupt in F. Quintilian, where he treats of the composition of speech in the ninth book. But I have set aside six hundred errors in the same [work] for myself to publish as soon as I have leisure. The word sesqui, as Augustine interprets it, can be seen as said for that which is se without absque without. There was also a type of usury called sesquiplae one and a half times condemned in our pontifical law, where the reading is also corrupt: sexcuplae six times instead of sesquiplae. Moreover, the proportions and intervals of the stars are gathered from Plato's Timaeus by Latin and Greek interpreters, concerning which matter [write] Macrobius, Martianus, and Chalcidius.

From chapter twenty-three.

"They reported that they rise into the height." One must add "clouds" from the old codices, and below: "in the lunar article." One must write "circle."

From chapter twenty-five.

"In the likeness of flutes, it portends for the art of music, but in obscene morals, in the shameful parts... the triangular figure of the signs of genius and learning and the rest." I think it should be read: "For geniuses and learning, if a triangular [figure] and the rest..." so that the meaning is: If comets show the image of flutes, it is portended for the art of music; if they occupy the shameful parts of the signs, it will be that examples of obscene lust are brought forth; if they give a triangular or square form to any of the fixed stars, it will be that they bring detriment to genius and learning. Therefore, one ought to write edant may they bring forth instead of edunt they bring forth, according to the old codices.

From chapter twenty-seven.

"These were done for this reason, because those things were about to be triggered by that rarity, but the reason for them is hidden." One must read, from the old codices: "These were done for this reason, because those things were about to fall, but the reason for their rarity is hidden." Seneca says: "It matters between us and the Tuscans: we think that because clouds have collided, therefore they emit lightning; they believe that clouds are collided so that they may emit lightning. For when they refer all things to God, they are of the opinion that things do not signify because they have happened, but that they happen so that they might signify." Yet he says that they happen for the same reason, whether they signify or follow. The same author: "There is a set day for all lightnings and every event," which words agree with those of Pliny in this very chapter. But I think these things occur at the times of nature, and other things happen as they are destined.