COMPENDIOSA.

are several in number, at least eight, which are entangled by mutual embrace, as we shall say in a little while; and as follows from that, some are more capacious than others.

Some count nine, others even ten, leading from the innermost orb to the outermost, marking the beginning; that is, the order of the stars that are wandering not in reality but in name. These are the sphere of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Afterward follows the orb of the fixed stars, in which there are twelve signs, as well as the poles, the heavenly bodies, and innumerable stars.

The last orb is that which they call the primum mobile first moved, and then the empyrean heaven, which is commonly accustomed to be called the seat of God, the Best and Greatest.

We shall discuss their various motions later. But now, let us begin our discourse from the eighth, as it holds the primacy of the others, in which the twelve signs are seen, as well as the poles or vertices, which are like hinges upon which the supported heaven revolves. This orb, I say, which embraces the other lower ones, by the impulse of the primum mobile—which is twisted by such an agitation that none can even be conceived equal to it—drags the others in the direction toward which we see the Sun itself and all the stars carried in continuous motion, namely from the east to the west, which can be detected even by the sense of the eyes whenever we look up at the stars fixed in the heaven.

Vocabulary: Cosmography, Sphere, orb, first mobile, empyrean heaven, heavenly bodies, planets