EARLIEST PREDECESSORS OF COPERNICUS 325 



connection can be traced between the last of these systems and the first, 

 a correspondence which did not escape notice by Copernicus himself. 3 



Familiar as Copernicus undoubtedly was with Pythagorean doc- 

 trines, how are we to explain his silence regarding the system of 

 Aristarchus? The answer lies in the fact that he never had access to 

 the writings of Archimedes, which furnish our chief information in 

 this matter; indeed he could not, for the reason that the editio princeps 

 was not given to the world until the year following his death in 1543. 



For a succinct statement of the views of Aristarchus, as reported 

 in the Arenarius of the famous Syracusan, one may refer to an 

 article by Professor Holden in an earlier number of Populak Science 

 Monthly (April, 1904). The original text of the passages, both in the 

 Arenarius and in Copernicus relating to them, together with a variety 

 of precious documents extracted from ancient authors, is appended to 

 the anniversary memoir of Professor Schiaparelli, prepared in honor 

 of the fourth centenary of the birth of Copernicus. 4 



At the same time it must be admitted as at least curious that the 

 brief sentence in Plutarch (de Placitis Philosophorum, II., 24), in which 

 Aristarchus is represented as having reckoned the sun amongst the cate- 

 gory of fixed stars, and to have conceived of the earth revolving around 

 it, should have passed altogether unnoticed by Copernicus. Almost 

 the identical words are repeated by Stobseus in his Eclogce Physicce, 

 and in the distorted abridgment of Plutarch's treatise which passes 

 under the name of Ilistoria Pliilosopliica, often erroneously at- 

 tributed to Galen; but we must suppose that none of these statements 

 attracted the attention of Copernicus, even if he was aware of their 

 existence. The same remark applies to passages concerning Aristarchus 

 which occur elsewhere in Plutarch and amongst other authors, for- 

 tunately in considerable number. Those desirous of consulting them 



3 The system of Philolaus is twice mentioned by Copernicus in his famous 

 work, 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Cailestium,' first in the dedicatory epistle to 

 Pope Paul III., and again in the fifth chapter of Book I. Upon these passages, 

 which gave rise to heated discussions a few decades after the death of Coper- 

 nicus, Professor Schiaparelli comments as follows: 



' Neppure qui e possibile inferire, che nella mente di Copernieo il sistema 

 di Filolao fosse il sistema eliocentrico. Anzi, le caute e indeterminate espres- 

 sioni . . . mostrano che le parole di Plutarco piu sopra citate non gli sem- 

 bravano abbastanza decisive per invocare l'autorita di Filolao in favore del 

 sistema da lui [*. e., Copernicus] propugnato."— I Precursors di Copernieo, etc., 

 p. 9. note 20. 



4 Published in the Memoirs of the Royal Lombardy Institute, Vol. XII., 

 and also in the Publications of the Milan Observatory, No. 3, 1873. A German 

 translation by Curtze exists under the title of ' Die Vorlaufer des Copernicus 

 im Alterthum' (Leipzig, 1876). Three other invaluable historical memoirs 

 by the same author have appeared in the Lombardy Memoirs, the latest one 

 (1898) dealing in consummate manner with the 'Origin of the Heliocentric 

 Planetary System amongst the Greeks.' These contributions are absolutely 

 indispensable for students. 



