312 DESCRIPTIO GLOBI INTELLECTUALS. 



tionibus quas mox proponemus de substantia et astro- 

 rum et coeli interstellaris plura dicemus. Haec enim 

 quae diximus pertinent tantum ad quaestiones de nexu 

 systematis. Superest quinta quaestio de collocatione par- 

 tium systematis^ sive de ordine coelorum. Atque dato 

 quod non sit systema, sed sparguntur globi ; aut dato 

 quod sit systema, cujus sit centrum sol ; aut etiamsi 

 videant astronomi de aliquo novo systemate ; tamen 

 manet utique inquisitio, quis planeta ad alium planetam 

 sit magis propinquus aut remotas ; et similiter qui pla- 

 neta magis aut minus elongetur a terra aut etiam a sole. 

 Quod si recipiatur systema veterum, non videtur causa 

 cur magnopere insistatur inquisition! novae de quatuor 

 coelis superioribus, Stellarum Fixarum scilicet, Saturrii, 

 Jovis, et Martis. Nam de eorum positura atque ordine, 

 et seculorum consensus suffragatur, nee phaenoraenon 

 ullum adversatur ; atque rationes motuum (unde sumi- 

 tur de altitudinibus coelorum prascipua probatio) ac- 

 commodatae sunt, et nusquam turbant. Verum de Sole, 

 Venere, et Mercuric, et Luna etiam, secundum sys- 

 tema veterum dubitatum est ab antiquis ; * atque apud 



ions concerninge the immensitie of the spheare of the starres .... Said I 

 (havinge heard you say often as much) what is [if?] in that huge space 

 betweene the starres and Saturne, ther reraaine ever fixed infinite numbers 

 which by reason of their lesser magnitudes doe flie our sighte . . . what if 

 about \i 1| 3 &c., ther move other planets also which appear not. Just as 

 I was saying this comes your letter, which when I had redd, Loe, quod I, 

 what I spoke probablie, experience hath made good." The name " Traven- 

 tane" is taken from his house Traventi. It probably alludes to the title 

 Consentine philosophers, affected by the disciples of Telesius. Bruno af- 

 fected to talk of the Nolan philosophy. 



1 It was doubted whether the orbs of Venus and Mercury nre superior to 

 the sun's or inferior to it. The former was the older hypothesis and is pre- 

 ferred by Ptolemy; who however remarks that some had dissented from it. 

 See the Megal. Syntaxis, iv. 1. Bacon's information is apparently de- 

 rived from Patricius, Pancosmia, 13. 



