Preface

The different nature of things and the swiftly flowing age (saeculum) I have briefly set forth in very short chapters, Servant of God Misfortune; and you, my reader, I beg you, with attention To the eternal day – turn your thoughts to the heavens.

Chapter 1. On the Four Sides of God's Creation[2]

The divine activity which created and governs the world [3] (saeculum) can be divided and considered from four points of view. First, this world is not created in the plan of the word of God, but exists eternally: according to the testimony of the Apostle, God predestined us for the kingdom before the beginning of the time of this world. Secondly, the elements of the world were created in formless matter all together, for [God], who lives eternally, created everything at the same time. Thirdly, this matter, according to the nature of the simultaneously created [elements], was not immediately transformed into heaven and earth, but gradually, in six days. Fourthly, all the seeds and first causes that were created then continue to [develop] naturally throughout the time that the world has existed, so that the work of the Father and the Son continues to this day, and God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies.

Chapter 2. On the formation of the world

At the very beginning of creation, heaven, earth, angels, air, and water were created out of nothing. Then, on the first day, light was created, also out of nothing; on the second day, the firmament in the midst of the waters; on the third, the image of the sea and the earth, together with all that is rooted in the earth[143]; on the fourth, the heavenly bodies, from the light that was created on the first day; on the fifth day – sea fish and birds; on the sixth, all other earthly animals and man, whose flesh was created from the earth, and whose soul from nothing; he was settled in paradise, which the Lord planted from the very beginning. On the seventh day, the Lord rested, not from the control of the created, for it is the only way we can eat, move, and exist, but from the creation of a new substance.

Chapter 3. What is peace

The world is the whole universe, consisting of heaven and earth, formed of the four elements, and having the form of an absolute [4] sphere; [it is formed] from the fire with which the stars shine; from the air that all living things breathe; of the waters that encircle and permeate the earth and thereby strengthen it; Finally, from the earth itself, which is in equilibrium in the middle and at the very bottom of the world [5] and hangs motionless while the universe revolves around it. Heaven is called mundus because of its perfect and absolute grace, just as the Greeks call it KOSMOS because of its beauty [6].

Chapter 4. About the elements[7]

The elements differ from each other both in nature and in place. The earth, as the heaviest, which no other nature can bear, occupies the lowest place in all creation. Water is as much lighter than earth as it is heavier than air, so that if air is mixed with water in a vessel, it immediately rises to the top as lighter. In the same way, a fire, if it is kindled, always strives upwards to its natural place above the air. But in order to prevent this from happening (i.e., so that it does not fly away entirely. — T.B.), a soft, compressive air is spread around the fire, in which the fire is dispersed and weakened [8]. [The elements] are mixed together by a certain commonality of nature in the following way: dry and cold earth [mixes] with cold water, and water, cold and [144] moist, with moist air; then the moist and hot air is combined with the hot fire, and the hot and dry fire is combined with the dry earth. For this reason we see fire on (in) the earth, and clouds and earth-born bodies in the air.

Chapter 5. About the Firmament

The sky has a subtle and fiery nature, it is round, everywhere equally dense, and everywhere it is at equal distances from the center of the earth. The Sages9 said that the vault of the heavens and its middle, as far as we can trace its movement, goes through its daily rotation with incredible rapidity. So it would have collapsed if the counter-motion of the planets had not moderated it. In proving this point, they point to the stars that always revolve along the same path, and those in the north describe smaller circles around the point of intersection of the celestial axis with the vault.

The outermost peaks [of the firmament], around which the celestial sphere revolves, are called poles and are bound by eternal ice. One of them, rising to the north, [is called] Boreas; the second, descending to the south, is Australia; The Holy Scriptures call it "interiora austri" [11].