Chapter 6. On the different heights of the sky[12]

But the world is not so situated in relation to this upper pole that the stars near it are visible from everywhere: in fact, those stars which seem highest to us and to our neighbors are visible to those who are far away [from us] near the horizon. And if we see the pole directly above our heads, when we cross over to the other slope of the earth, the stars that were formerly above our heads will disappear from us, because the bulge of the globe is an obstacle to our view, so that the Seven Stars, hanging at the pole above our heads, appears somewhere in India for hardly 15 days a year.

Chapter 7. About the upper sky

The heaven of the uppermost circle, separated [from the rest of the circles] by a special boundary and separated everywhere by equal distances [from the lower heaven — Bridifert's gloss] [14], is the seat of the angelic powers; descending to us, they put on ethereal bodies, so that they can even eat food like a man, and when they return they throw it off. The [fiery] nature of this heaven was softened by God with glaciated waters[15] so that it would not inflame the underlying elements. Then he made the lowest heaven solid, giving it not the same but a varied motion, and called it the firmament, because it supports the upper waters.

Chapter 8. About the heavenly waters

As for the waters [16] that lie above the firmament,[17] below the spiritual heavens, but above all bodily creation, some think that they are stored here for a new [146] flood,[146] while others assert, and much more justly, that they are there to moderate the flames of the luminaries.18

Chapter 9. About the five belts of the world

The world is divided into five belts; according to this division, some parts of it are inhabited by moderation, while others are uninhabited by excessive cold or heat. The first belt is the northern, uninhabited because of the cold; Its stars never set with us. The second is the solstice belt, facing from the highest part of the zodiac to the north, temperate and inhabited. The third, the equinox belt, which coincides with the central circumference of the Zodiac, is scorched and uninhabited. The fourth is winter, facing from the lowest part of the Zodiac to the South Pole, temperate and inhabited. The fifth is south, around the South Pole, covered with earth from above, uninhabited because of the cold. The three middle zones know the difference of seasons: for while in the first is the solstice, in the second is the equinox, and in the third is winter. The outer belts never see the sun. Therefore, in one day's voyage north of the island of Thule [19] even the sea is frozen.

Chapter 10. About the Countries of the World

There are four climates, or cardinal points: the east, from the rising of the solstice to the winter [rising of the sun]. South - from there to winter sunset; the west, from [winter sunset] to [sunset of] the solstice; then the north stretches from sunset to sunrise [the period of] the solstice. Of these, east and west are called "the doors of heaven," and for those who are in the middle of the earth, [east and west are always in the same place]. And for those who dwell in the north, the winter's day is shorter, and the day at the equinox is longer, for the rising and setting [of the sun], as it moves, crowds out the other cardinal directions.

Chapter 12. About the movement of the planets

Between heaven and earth hang seven stars, separated by certain intervals, and called "wandering," because they move in the opposite direction to the world: for the world moves to the left, but they are always directed to the right. And although [the sky], which is constantly rotating with infinite speed, hinders them [147] and draws them [with it] to the west, nevertheless they continue to move in the opposite direction, each in its own way, finding themselves now lower and sometimes higher because of the inclination of the zodiac. When their movement is hindered by the rays of the sun, it becomes abnormal, and they either [move] in the opposite direction or stop.

Chapter 13. On the order of the planets

Above the planets [is] the star Saturn; its nature is icy; [circle] of the Zodiac it passes in 30 years. Then [comes] Jupiter, temperate [by nature]; [passes the Zodiac] in 12 years. The third is Mars, the flaming one; for 2 years. In the middle is the Sun; in 365 days and a quarter. Below the Sun is Venus, which is also called the Morning and Evening [star]; [passes the zodiac], in 347 days, never moving away from the sun more than 46 parts [i.e., degrees], the nearest to it is the star Mercury, which makes a revolution 9 days faster, rising now before the sun, now after its sunset, never moving more than 22 parts away from it. The last is the Moon, which completes the circle of the Zodiac in 27 days and the third, after which, remaining next to the Sun, it does not appear in the sky for 2 days. Saturn and Mars [are invisible because of their proximity to the Sun] for 170 days at the most; Jupiter is at least 296 days, but usually 10 days more; Venus – 68 or at least 52 days; Mercury – 13, maximum 18 days. But they disappear when they move near the sun, no more than 11 parts [degrees]; sometimes they appear after 7 parts.