Part IK

P T T H A G 0 R A S.
393
ing to the Vh^nomenoril in One j Mercury and Ve~ | astheSiin, Cor to I'peak more exaftly^ Mer-' cury in Three Months,K^’/?»f in Eight] the Moon, as being next the Earth fooneft, in a Month.
, According to this inequality, appears the mo¬ tion of the Flanets to our light, by reafon that the Eye is out of the Center of the Orb : But in the whQle courfe of Aftronomy (faith Geminus) are fuppofed the motions of the Sun, Moon, and five Planets, equal and circular, contrary to the diur¬ nal Revolution of the World. The Vyihagoreans firft applying themfelves to thefe difquilitions, fuppofed circular and ecmal mptions ot the Sun,
, the Moon, and the five Planets ; for they admit-
. ted not filch irregularity in eternal and divine bo¬ dies, that fbmetimes they fliould move fwifter, fometimes flower, and fometimes ftand ftill (as the ftationary Points in the Planets. Neither in any fober, well-tempered perfon could we admit fuch irregularity of pace. Indeed, the neceffities of life often caufe men to move fafier or flower i but in the incorruptible Nature of the Stars, there cannot be alkdged any caufe of fwifthefs and flownefs. Wherefore i^QFythagorean^^rta^o^^Qd. 'this queftiqn, h^ be
falved by circular arid equal motions.
TMt himfelf obferved thefe Irregu¬
larities, and the ways to falve them, appears from fbj Capi 6.] Jamblichus^ who faith, ( ^ ) he communicated a revelative right knowledge of all manner of mo¬ tion of the Spher^^^and ^Stars ti,
^ « aj^AKiSvt tKKiVTfOTtlTwv n, imv*
is the-, anticipation of any Pla¬ net, either in refped 'to fome other Planet, or to the fixed Stars. is the falling later of
any Planet, either in refpeO: to fome other JPlanet, or to the fixed Stars, ’AfuiAariot Inequality., is, when the fame Planet mpyeth flower and f after,
. , according to its diftance from the Sun, inthePy-
^ thagorick Hypothelisj (or in the Ptolemaick, from the Earth) flower in its Aphelium., is&Qv in its '2erihelium.
The two ways of falving thefe Fb^nomends, are by Eccentricks^ ox\i^ Epicycles r, for a Uemo- centrick with ZR Epicycle \z%Eudoxus^xPi^z- monftrated) is equipollent to an Ec¬
centricity h., when the Center of their equal mo¬ tion is diftant from the Center of their apparent to Loc, at. motion. Both thefe (f Jatnhli chics aferibes to Vyihagorett., from whoiri perhaps they were de- fij Lmp. rived to.' Eudoxus^ to whofe invention {d) others aferibethem.
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CHAP. III.
The Intervals and Harmony of the Spheres.
jTthagoras (faith (a) Qenforinus ) afTcrted, that (a)'£>e this whole World is made according to mu- lical proportion, and that the feven Planets, be¬ twixt Heaven and the Earth, which govern the Nativities of Mortals, have a harmonious moti¬ on, and Intervals cofrefpondent to muflcal Dia- ftemes, and render various founds, according to their feveral heights, fo confonant, that they make moft fweet melody ^ but to ns inaudible, by rea¬ fon of the greatnefs of the noife, which the nar¬ row paflage of our Ears is not capable to receive.
For, as Eratofthenes collefted, that the largeft Circumference of the Earth is 2^2000 Stadia-, fo Pythagoras declared how many Stadia there are betwixt the Earth and every Star. In thii meafure of the World, we arc to underftand the Italick Stadium^ which confifts of 5 2 5 Feet ; for there are* 4)thers of a dilFerent length, as the Olympich of 600 Feet, -^the Py thick of yoo. from the. Earth therefore to the Moon, Pythago¬ ras conceived to be about i26cxx> Stadia., and that diftance faccording to mufical proportion] is a Tone-, from the Moon to Mercury (who is called flAiSw) half as much, as it were a Hemitone, from thence x.QtPhoJphorusyi\\\ch. is the ftar almoft as ;much, that is,,another Hemitone ■, from thence to the Sun twice as much, as it were a Tone and a half. Thus the Sun is diftant-from the ” •Earth Three Tones and a half, whiefi is called Diapente \ from the Moon Two and a half,wJiich is Diatejfaron ; from the Sun. to Mars^ -viho is called there is the fame Interval as from .c- '
the Earth to the Moon, which mdkQsaTone\ •>: ; v . from thence to Jupiter, who is called ^a-iSruy^ half as much, which makes a Hemitone from thence to the fupream Heaven, where the Signs are a Hemitone zXto-, fo that the Diafteme from the fupream Heaven to the Sun is Diatejfaron, that is. Two Tones and a half: from the iatpe Heaven to top of the Earth HxTones, xtDiapafon concord.
Moreover he referred to other Stara many things, which theMafters of Mufick treat of, and, ft)(5wedl, that all this World is Enarmo nick. Thus . Cenfo^ rinus. But (b) Pliny dcliyering this O^nion of Pythagoras, reckons feven Tones from the Earth 21^ 22, fo the fupream Heaven. y i for whex€asiCen//?rinus accounts hut a Hemitone from Sattiyn tioxbcZo- , diack, Pliny mak^itS^quipie. into v ^
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E e c
CHAP.
394
PTTHJGORAS.