veritatis, ut quaereretur:1 Utrum aqua in spherae sua, hoc est in sua naturali circumferentia, in aliqua parte esset altior terra quae emergit ab aquis, et quam communiter quartam habitabilem appellamus; et arguebatur quod sic multis rationibus, quarum (quibusdam amissis propter earum levitatem) quinque retinui, quae aliquam efficaciam habere videbantur.

§ III. Prima fuit talis: Duarum circumferentiarum inaequaliter a se distantium impossibile est idem esse centrum: circumferentia aquae et circumferentia terrae inaequaliter distant; ergo etc. Deinde pro

6

1 Il Libro di Sidrach. ch. ccxxxvii: "Lo re domanda: quale è più alto o la terra o lo mare? Sidrac risponde: 'La terra è assai più alta che 'l mare.'

2 Rist. d'Arezzo. Comp. del Mundo. I. 20. "E noi troviamo una parte della terra scoperta dall' acqua; e secondo i savi è la quarta parte scoperta."

3 Rist. d'Arezzo. Comp. del Mundo. VI. 2. "La chiamarono 'quarta abitabile.'”

4 Brunetto. Trésor. I. iii. c. 106.

"La mers est plus haute que la terre."

S. Thomas Aquinas. Summa. i. 69, i. § 2. "Nam mare est altius terra, ut experimento compertum est in mari rubro."

Rist. d'Arezzo. Comp. del Mundo. VI. 7. "Secondo questa via sarà più alta l'acqua della terra."

6 Alfraganus. Elem. Astron. iii. init. terram uno cum aqua globosam esse."

"Haud secus inter sapientes convenit,

should be1 whether water in its own sphere, that is in its natural circumference, is anywhere higher than the earth which emerges from the waters 2 and which we commonly call the "habitable quarter: ,, 8 and this was argued to be so for many reasons, of which, discarding some for their shallowness, I have retained five which appeared to have some weight.

§ III. The first was as follows: It is impossible for two circumferences not equidistant from one another to have the same center; 5 the circumference of the water and the circumference of the earth are not

6

1 Il Libro di Sidrach (quoted by Dr. Moore, II. 370): "The king asks: which is higher, the earth or the sea? Sidrac answers: 'the earth is considerably higher than the sea.'"

2 Ristoro d'Arezzo. I. 20. waters, and philosophers say

3 Ristoro d'Arezzo. VI. 2.

a

"And we find part of the earth not covered by the fourth part is thus uncovered."

"They called it the 'habitable quarter.''

4 Almost every one held this view.

Brunetto Latini. I. iii. c. 106. "The sea is higher than the land."

"

S. Thomas Aquinas. S. i. 69. i. § 2. "For the sea is higher than the land, as has been found by experiment in the Red Sea."

Ristoro d'Arezzo. VI. 7. "According to this, water will be higher than the earth."

5 By "circumference" is here meant the surface of a sphere. In Fig. 1, the shell between the two spherical surfaces is equally thick, and the two surfaces have the same center. Fig. 2 is the case discussed in the text: if the shell included between the two spherical surfaces is not everywhere equally thick, the two surfaces cannot have the same center.

6 The sphericity of the earth is the fourth Anticipation of Stoppani. The idea, however, is far older than Dante. Besides many of the Greek philosophers who held it, as Aristotle, De Coelo. II. xiv., Dr. Moore (II. 323) quotes Alfraganus, Elem. Ast. iii.: "Philosophers agree that the earth and water together form a globe."

cedebatur: Quum centrum terrae sit centrum universi,1 ut ab omnibus confirmatur; et omne quod habet positionem in mundo aliam ab eo, sit altius ; quod circumferentia aquae sit altior circumferentia terrae concludebatur, quum circumferentia sequatur undique ipsum centrum. Maior principalis syllogismi videbatur patere per ea, quae demonstrata sunt in geometria; minor per sensus, eo quod videmus in aliqua parte terrae circumferentiam includi a circumferentia aquae, in aliqua vero excludi.

§ IV. Nobilior corpori debetur nobilior locus; aqua est nobilius corpus quam terra: ergo aquae debetur nobilior locus. Et cum locus tanto sit nobilior quanto superior, propter magis propinquare nobilissimo continenti, qui est coelum primum; ergo etc. Relinquo, quod locus aquae sit altior loco terrae, et per consequens quod aqua sit altior terra, quum situs loci et locati non differat. Maior et minor principalis syllogismi huius rationis quasi manifeste dimittebantur.

1 Conv. III. v. 61-5. "Assai basta alla gente, a cui parlo, per la sua grande autorità sapere, che questa terra è fissa e non si gira, e che essa col mare è centro del cielo."

2 Ristoro d'Arezzo. Comp. del Mundo. I. 20. “Da qualunque part noi ne movemo da questo punto andiamo verso il cielo e alla insù."

Sacrabosco. De Sphaera. I. 8.

tiam coeli ascendit."

'Quidquid a medio movetur versus circumferen

8 Aristotle. De Coelo. II. xiii. “ τῷ γὰρ τιμιωτάτῳ οἴονται προσήκειν τὴν τιμιωτάτην ὑπάρκειν χώραν.”

4 Conv. III. v. 37-9. "Dicea che 'l fuoco era nel mezzo di queste, ponendo quello essere più nobile corpo che l'acqua e che la terra."

"

5 Epist. X. 461-3. Sed in naturali situ totius universi primum coelum est omnia continens."

Par. II. 112-4.

Conv. II. iv. 35-6.

mondo s' inchiude."

'Dentro dal ciel della divina pace

Si gira un corpo, nella cui virtute

L'esser di tutto suo contento giace."

"Questo è il sovrano edificio del mondo, nel quale tutto il

7 Boehmer suggests reading manifestae.

2

equidistant; therefore, etc. Then the argument proceeded: since the center of the earth is the center of the Universe 1 as everybody acknowledges; and since everything that has its place in the world other than there, is above it; it follows that the circumference of the water is above the circumference of the earth, inasmuch as a circumference everywhere follows its own center. The major premise of the principal syllogism seemed evident from the demonstrations of geometry; the minor from the fact that we see the circumference of the earth in some part to be within, in another indeed to be outside of, the circumference of water.

5

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§ IV. The nobler body deserves the nobler place: water is a nobler body than earth; hence water deserves the nobler place.* And as a region is nobler the higher it is, because it draws nearer the noblest all-enfolding, which is the first heaven; therefore, etc. I adınit, that the region of water is higher than the region of earth, and that consequently water is higher than earth, since the location of a region and of whatever occupies that region do not differ. The major and minor premises of the principal syllogism of this reason were dismissed as virtually self-evident.

1 Conv. III. v. 61-5. "It is quite enough for those to whom I speak, to know on his (Aristotle's) great authority that this earth is immovable, and does not revolve, and that, with the sea, it is the center of the heavens."

2 Ristoro d'Arezzo. I. 20. "However we move from this point, we go towards heaven, and to that which is above."

Sacrabosco. I. 8.

of heaven ascends."

"Whatever moves from the center towards the circumference

3 Arist. De Coelo. II. xiii. (293 a. 30). "They deem it fitting for the nobler place to belong to the nobler body."

4 Conv. III. v. 37-9.

He said that fire was between these two [stars], assert

ing that it was a more noble element than water and earth."

5 Epist. X. 461-3. "But in the natural relation of the whole universe, the first heaven containeth all things."

Par. II. 112-4.

"Within the heaven of the divine repose

Revolves a body, in whose virtue lies
The being of whatever it contains."

Conv. II. iv. 35-6. "This is the supreme edifice of the universe, in which all the world is included."

This refers to the theory generally held in the Middle Ages that a sphere of water surrounded the sphere of earth.

§ V. Tertia ratio erat: Omnis opinio quae contradicit sensui, est mala opinio; opinari aquam non esse altiorem terra, est contradicere sensui: ergo est mala opinio. Prima dicebatur patere per commentatorem 1 super tertio de Anima: secunda, sive minor, per experientiam nautarum, qui vident, in mari existentes, montes sub se; et probant dicendo, quod ascendendo malum vident eos, in navi vero non vident; quod videtur accidere propter hoc, quod terra valde inferior sit et depressa a dorso 2 maris.

§ VI. Quarto arguebatur sic: Si terra non esset inferior ipsa aqua, terra esset totaliter sine aquis, saltem in parte detecta, de qua quaeritur; et sic essent nec fontes, neque flumina, neque lacus ; cuius oppositum videmus: quare oppositum eius ex quo sequebatur, est verum, quod aqua sit altior terra. Consequentia probabatur per hoc, quod aqua naturaliter fertur deorsum: et cum mare sit principium omnium aqua

1 Conv. IV. xiii. 67-9. "Chi intende il Commentatore nel terzo dell' Anima."

De Mon. I. iii. 77-8. "Averrois, in Commento super iis quae de Anima."

Inf. IV. 144. "Averrois, che il gran comento feo."
Purg. XXV. 63. "Più savio di te."

2 Conv. III. v. 83 and 94. "In su quel dosso del mare."

3 Conv. III. v. 73. "Terra discoperta."

4 Li Livres dou Trésor. i. 106. "La terre est toute pertuisie dedans et pleine de vaines et de cavernes, par quoi les aigues qui de la mers issent vont et viennent parmi la terre et dedanz et dehors sourdent, selonc ce que les vaines les mainent ça et là."

5 De Mon. II. xii. 26-8. "Consequens est falsum, ergo contradictorium ante cedentis est verum."

De Mon. II. xiii. 5-5. "Hoc autem est falsum; ergo contradictorium eius ex quo sequitur est verum."