Chapter V. Of the sun and of its effects and beauty

The heavens having been spoken of in common, it follows that we should speak in particular of the planets and stars that there are in them, and first of the most noble, which is the sun. In which there are so many greatnesses and marvels to consider, that a great philosopher, by name Anaxagoras, being asked for what he had been born in this world, answered that it was to see the sun, it seeming to him that to contemplate what God wrought in this creature, and what he works in this world by it, was sufficient cause for this. And with all this this philosopher did not adore the sun, nor hold it for God, as infinite other peoples did, rather he said that it was a great stone or material body very enkindled and resplendent. For which he was condemned to a certain penalty by the Athenians, and he would have been sentenced to death, if his great friend Pericles had not availed him.

But though this star is so admirable, no one marvels at the powers and properties that the Creator placed in it, because, as Seneca says, “the custom of seeing things run in one same manner makes them not seem admirable, however great they may be. But on the contrary, any newness that there may be in them, although it be small, makes all eyes then set themselves on the heaven. The sun has no one who looks at it, except when it is eclipsed, and no one looks at the moon, except when the shadow of the earth darkens it. But how much greater a thing it is that the sun, with the greatness of its light, hides all the stars, and that being so much greater than the earth, it does not burn it, but tempers the force of its heat with its changes, making it at some times greater and at others lesser, and that it neither fills the moon with clarity, nor darkens and eclipses it, except when it is in the contrary part. At these things no one marvels when they run by their order, but, when they go out from it, then we marvel, and ask what that will be: so natural a thing is it to men to marvel more at new things than at great ones.” Up to here are words of Seneca. But Saint Augustine says that wise men no less, but much more, marvel at great things than at new and unaccustomed ones, because they have eyes to know their dignity and excellence, and to esteem them for what they are.

I. Therefore returning to the purpose, among the powers and influences of this planet the greatest and most general is that it influences light and clarity in all the other planets and stars that are scattered through the whole heaven. And since it is true that both they and those work their effects in this world by means of the light with which they reach from the high to the low, and this light they receive from the sun, it follows that it, after God, is the first cause of all the generations, and corruptions, and alterations, and changes that there are in this inferior world. And thus we say that it concurs in the generation of man. For which reason it is commonly said that the sun and man engender man. And not only does it engender things, but it also, by means of the heat that it influences in them, makes them grow, and lifts them to the height.

Wherefore we see garden plants shoot up and harvests grow in the month of May, when already the heats begin to grow.

II. It itself lifts to the height the more subtle vapors of the sea, which, reaching the middle region of the air, which is most cold, thicken and are converted into water, and water the earth, and with this it produces all the fruits and pastures, which are the sustenance both of men and of brute animals. So that of it we can say that it gives us bread, and wine, and meats, and wools, and fruits, and finally almost everything necessary for the use of life, because water gives us all this.

III. It is the one that with the variety of its movements marks out for us the times, which are days and nights, months and years, because rising in this our hemisphere, it makes day, and setting and withdrawing from our eyes, it makes night, and running through each one of the twelve signs of the heaven, it marks out the months (because it stays for the space of a month in each one), and giving a perfect turn to the world through these twelve signs with its proper movement, it marks out the years. For one of these turns of its makes a year.

IV. It itself is the one that, approaching or withdrawing from us, is cause of the four differences of times that there are in the year, which are winter, spring, summer, and autumn, which divine providence ordered by means of this planet both for the health of our bodies and for the procreation of the fruits of the earth, with which they are sustained. And as to what touches health, it is to be known that, just as our bodies are composed of four elements, so they have the four qualities of them, which are cold and heat, moisture and dryness, to which correspond the four humors that are found in these bodies. For to coldness corresponds phlegm, to moisture blood, to heat choler, and to dryness melancholy. Therefore since that supreme governor saw that the health of our bodies consists in the tempering and proportion of these four humors, and illness when they are distempered, the one growing or diminishing over the others, he ordered these four times in such manner that each one of these four humors should have its three months proportioned in the year, in which it might be reformed and remade. And thus for phlegm serve the three months of winter, which are cold like it, and for blood the three of spring, which are temperate like it, and for choler the three of summer, which are hot like it, and for melancholy the three of autumn, which are dry as it is, and thus in these four times each one of these four humors reigns and predominates and thus, having the times and the forces equally divided, they are conserved in peace without one having envy of the other, since the times are divided for them with so much equality, and thus none prevails against the other, nor presumes to destroy it, seeing that it has equal forces and equal time on its side to remake itself, as he.

And no less marvelously does this change of times serve for the second thing that we mentioned, which is for the procreation of the fruits and pastures of the earth, with which these bodies must be fed. For in the time of autumn the fruits that summer with its heat ripened are finished being gathered and, with the first waters that then come, the farmer begins to break the earth and make his sowings. And so that the things sown may put forth deep roots in the earth, and grow with foundation, there follow very to the purpose the colds of winter, where the plants, fleeing the cold air, gather themselves inward, and thus

employ all their power in putting forth deeper roots, so that, afterward, they may grow so much more securely, as they shall be more rooted in the earth. This done, so that from there onward they may grow, spring succeeds, which with the power of its heat makes them grow and rises to the height, to which succeeds the ardor of summer, which ripens them, drying up with the force of its heat and dryness all the coldness and moisture that they have, and with this they ripen.

In this manner, the course of one year finished, provision of sustenance remains made both for man and for the animals that must serve him. So that, as lords who have servants and family are accustomed to depute a certain salary each year for their maintenance, so that great Lord, whose family is this whole world, with the revolution of the sun, which is made in one year, and with these four differences of time, provides each year sustenance and everything necessary for this his great house and family and, this done, then commands the sun to return to walk another time by the same counted steps, to make another new provision for the following year.

V. And because all men and animals are subject to death and, if the species were not repaired with their individuals, the world would come to an end, each year the Creator repairs it by the ministry of this same star, because with the turn that it gives toward us, when it comes to spring, when the trees seem to rise again, the world is also peopled with another new generation and with other new dwellers. For in that time new animals are bred on the earth, new fishes in the water, and new birds in the air. And in this manner that divine president sustains and governs this world, increasing each year his family, and providing pasture and sustenance for it. Therefore who, seeing the order of this divine providence, will not exclaim with the Prophet, saying: “How magnified are your works, Lord! All are made with supreme wisdom; the earth is full of your riches?”

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VI. Nor is the order with which these four times succeed one another to be left unnoted, of which the same sun with its ordered movement is cause. For since their extremes are winter and summer, if after winter there did not immediately follow the ardor of summer, bodies could not fail to receive harm, because nature does not suffer extreme changes. Therefore for this the Creator ordered that the sun should move in such manner that it would be cause of other more temperate times being inserted in the middle. And thus, between the cold of winter and the ardor of summer spring is inserted in the middle, which has part of the two extremes because it is moist and hot, and thus man passes from one extreme to the other without danger. And the same inconvenience would follow, if after the ardor of summer the cold of winter immediately succeeded. And for this autumn passes through the middle, so that little by little the body may go disposing itself for the colds of winter.

VII. The same sun with its presence and absence divides time into days and nights, and all for our profit, because, if it were always day, the ages of men and the account of times would not be known. But now we make one day from the day and the night, and from seven days and nights one week, and in a little more than four weeks the sun is in one of the

twelve signs and, these having been walked, the solar year is made. And no less profitable is the proportioned inequality of days and nights for the fruits of the earth. For the great nights and small days of winter serve so that the plants root much with the cold of the long night (as we said) and grow little with the little heat of the brief day. But when now it is time for what is well rooted to grow, the nights are shortened, and the days grow, so that with the greater heat of the greater days the plants may go little by little growing and thriving. And in this manner days and nights are harmonized like two sisters in order to serve man, and live in peace, each restoring the greater space that it took in one time, diminishing it in another, conserving equality in the whole, amid inequality in the parts.

And although the day is of greater profit for the exercises and use of human life, yet the night also does not lack its fruits. For with the tempering and the dew of the night the sowings and the plants are refreshed in the hot and great days. In the night the bodies of men and of animals rest, tired from the labors of the day. In the night, the use of the senses ceasing, the natural heat is gathered in order to attend to the cooking and digestion of food, and to distribute it through all the members, giving to each one its ration. The night also separates bloody exercises, and the enemy ceases to pursue the reach of his adversary. In the night the wild beasts come out of their caves to seek food. For which reason the Prophet praises divine providence, saying in the Psalm: “You placed, Lord, darknesses, and the night was made, in which the beasts of the mountains go out and the young of the lions roaring and asking God that he give them to eat. But when the sun comes out in the morning, they return to gather themselves, and are enclosed in their caves and dens. The night is the most fitting time for man also to gather himself,” and give passage to his soul, in which, free from the cares and business of the day, he may be free in silence for God and sing his praises, as the Prophet says. In the day God distributes his mercies, and in the night he asks his praises. To which the same Prophet invites more particularly “those who dwell in the house of the Lord, saying that in the night they should lift their hands to holy things, and bless the Lord.” And he did not go outside what he advised others (although he was king, and so occupied) when he says he rose at midnight to praise God. Jeremiah also invites us to this same office by these words: “Rise by night at the beginning of the watches, and pour out like water your heart before God,” that is: represent to him all the necessities that you feel in your soul, and ask remedy for them from the Lord. In this time the prophet Isaiah lifted his spirit to God, as he declares it when, speaking with him, he says: “My soul, Lord, desired you in the night, and with my spirit and with my bowels in the morning I shall watch for you.” In the clear and serene night the humble heart awakens its devotion, looking at the beauty of the clear moon and, in her absence, that of all the stars, which by being silent and twinkling preach the beauty of their Creator, and with the diversity of their clarity teach us the variety of the glory and beauty of the glorious bodies, which will be seen on the day of the general resurrection, as the Apostle says.

Therefore all these things, and many others that we leave silent, this most beautiful and resplendent lamp works, besides giving light to everything that God has created in the heavens and on the earth, and together with this giving heat to the whole world, without there being anyone who can hide from it. Therefore what hand would be powerful to paint and enlighten a beautiful mirror,

such a luminary, such a lamp, such a torch, that would suffice to light the whole world? For which with much reason Saint Ambrose calls it eye of the world, since without it the whole world would be blind, but by it all things disclose their figures to us.

VIII. Finally, such are the properties and excellences of this star, that though creatures are not, as they say, more than a small shadow or footprint of the Creator (because only man and the angel are called image of God), nevertheless among bodily creatures, the one that most represents the beauty and omnipotence of the Creator in many things is the sun.

1. And the first: that being one star alone, it produces from itself so great a light, that it illumines everything that God has created from heaven to earth, in such manner that even being in the other hemisphere beneath us, it gives light to all the stars of the heaven. And its power is so great that it penetrates even to the entrails of the earth, where it breeds gold and precious stones, and many other things. Which will serve us so that in some manner we may understand how God our Lord, with his presence and essence, fills heaven and earth, and works all things, since he was powerful to give power to a bodily creature so that in the aforesaid manner it should extend its light and its efficacy through the whole universe.

2. Thus the sun illumines all this world, and of its Creator Saint John says that he illumines every man that is born in this world.

3. The sun is the creature, of as many as there are, most visible, and the one that least can be seen (because of the greatness of its splendor, and the weakness of our sight), and God is the most intelligible thing of as many as there are in the world, and the one that is least understood, because of the loftiness of his being, and the lowliness of our understanding.

4. The sun is among bodily creatures the most communicative of its light and of its heat, so much that if you close the door to defend yourself from it, it enters through the chinks of it to communicate to you the benefit of its light. Therefore what thing is more similar to that infinite Goodness, which so copiously communicates its riches to all creatures, making them, as Saint Dionysius says, as much as their nature suffers, similar to itself, and many times seeking those who flee from it?

5. From the great clarity of the sun all the stars receive clarity and power to work, and from the fullness and abundance of the grace of Christ our Savior, all the just receive light and power to do good works.

6. The sun produces as many bodily things as there are in this world, and that sovereign Governor, just as he fills all, so he works all in the heavens and on the earth, and thus concurs with all the causes, from the greatest to the least, as first cause, in all their operations.

7. Finally the presence of the sun is cause of light, and absence is cause of darknesses, and the presence of Christ in souls illumines and teaches them, and shows the road of heaven, and discloses the ravines from which they must turn aside, but, he being absent from them, they remain in very dark and dense darknesses, and thus they stumble and fall into a thousand

precipices of sins, without knowing what they do nor whom they offend, and in how great a danger of their salvation those who so live are living.

In all these things this noble creature represents to us the excellences of its Creator. At which that divine singer marveling, after having said that “the heavens and the stars preached the glory of God,” then descends to treat in particular of the sun, comparing its beauty with that of his bridegroom who comes out from the bridal chamber, and its strength and joy and lightness with that of a giant, with which it goes out from the beginning of the heaven, and runs to the end of it. Which verse an interpreter declares by these words: After you have surrounded with the eyes and with the spirit all things, you will find that there is none so enlightened and that puts so much admiration in men as the sun, which is governor of all the stars, and conservation and health of all bodily things. And beyond this, what figure more joyful and beautiful can be offered to our eyes than that of the sun, when it rises in the morning? Which, with the clarity of its splendor, makes the darknesses flee, and gives its color and figure to all things, and with them gladdens the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the eyes of all animals. So that we can compare its beauty to that of a most lovely bridegroom, and its force and impetus to a giant. For with so much lightness it revolves from East to West, and from there to the other part of the heaven, that with one revolution it makes day and night, at times showing us from on high its most clear and resplendent rays, and at others hiding itself from our eyes, and occupying all the regions of the air, without there being a place where its clarity does not reach. For this star surrounds with its most clear flames all the works of the earth, giving to the world a healthful heat of life, with which it sustains and makes all things grow. But now let us leave the sun, and let us come to its companion the moon.

Of the moon and stars

The moon is as vicar of the sun, to which is committed by the Creator the providence of light in the absence of the sun, so that while it is absent, and attending to other regions to communicate the benefit of its light, the world should not remain in darknesses. And thus it itself is the one that provides her with light for this ministry, so much greater, when she looks at it more fully face to face. This planet has, among other properties, notable lordship over all waters and over all moist bodies, and especially has so great a jurisdiction over the sea, that as a familiar servant it draws it after itself, and thus as she rises, it grows, and as she lowers, it lowers. For as it is said of the magnet stone that it draws iron after itself, so the Creator gave to this planet this power, that it should attract and call the sea to itself, and that it should follow her movement. In such a way that this planet has as it were reins in the hand, with which it takes possession of this so great element, and rules it and brings it to its command. From here are born the tides, which go with the movement of the moon, and which serve for navigations from one place to another, when the wind is lacking, and for the mills of the sea, which are made with them, and above all with this movement the waters are purified, which would not lack bad odor and bad sustenance for the fishes, if they stood as in a pond pooled without moving. But not only in the sea, but also in all moist things it has special lordship. And thus we see with her waxing the moisture of trees and of shellfish grow, and diminish with the waning. Now the alterations that

this planet causes in human bodies, especially in the sick, in its fullnesses and new moons and in its eclipses, when a little of its light is impeded with the shadow of the earth, we all experience. What here is more to be considered is the admirable power and strength that the Creator gave to this planet, which being so many thousand leagues removed from us, by power of that light that it receives borrowed from the sun, works so many effects and changes on earth, that just as it goes changing, so it goes changing with itself all these things with so great a lordship, that a little that its light be diminished in an eclipse, the earth must then feel it. Therefore what would it be if this planet were wholly lacking to us?

After the moon follow the stars, of whose ornament and beauty we already spoke. But what did we say of so great a beauty? Therefore the number and the powers and influences of them, who will explain them except only that Lord of whom David says that “he alone counts the multitude of the stars, and calls each one by its name”? In which he first declares the obedience that these most clear luminaries have to their Creator, who calls the things that are not as if they were, giving being to those that do not have it. And of that obedience the Prophet says: “The stars stood in the places and stations that the Creator marked out for them and, being called by him, they obeyed him and answered: Here we are, Lord, and they shone with joy in service of the Lord who created them.” The Prophet’s saying also that he calls each one by its name is to say that he alone knows their properties and nature, and according to this he gave them names accommodated to these properties. Of this, then, which is reserved to divine Wisdom, human tongue cannot speak. But among other uses and profits of the stars, they also serve as the road markers for those who navigate by the sea. For lacking in the waters signs by which they may direct the steps of their navigation, they set their eyes on the heaven, and there they find signs in the stars, especially in the one that is fixed in the north, which never changes, in order to take it as certain rule of their road.