Studies in Medieval Astronomy and Optics by J.L. Mancha;

Author:J.L. Mancha;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Unlimited)
Published: 2006-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

5. esoposions add. mg. 14. redeans: a.m. add. s.l. planetas. 18. dellauga: a.m. add. s.l. altitudinis; equacion dels iorns: a.m. add. mg. equacionem ueram. 19. lauga: a.m. add. s.l. altitudo. 30. conioncio add. s.l. 36. taulas add. s.l. 42. oposicions e las add. mg. 60. equacio add. s.l. 83. de add. s.l. 89. ellora add. s.l. 99. taula: ms. tauaula. 121. lassendent en lo tieu: ms. lassendent el tieu.

4.2. Translation

[f. 68r] [1] Leon of Bagnols, a Jew from Orange, said: let the God of the world be praised and exalted; by his word heavens were made in such a condition of wisdom, and mercy, and grace, that human understandings cannot perfectly know them, but over what little they know, they rejoice with a marvelous delight. [2] Let Him be blessed and honored who created everything that exists, who ordered, and of a body of one and the same substance the luminaries and the radiant [bodies] were made, efficient souls in this lower world of diverse actions by means of their lights, and they neither weary nor get tired of doing what God decreed for them the day they were created. [3] As the prophet Isaiah says in chapter 40[:26]: “Lift up your eyes and see who created these, who brings forth their host in number, He named all of them with a name, with His great strength, and might, and power not one of them is missing”. [4] He means that each of them has a name that distinguishes it from the others, and beyond doubt that name is according to what follows from their actions. [5] And inasmuch as the actions of the sun and the moon on natural things are more noteworthy than the actions of the other celestial bodies, it has been my wish to arrange an easy and brief [method of] computation which allows us to calculate the true conjunctions and oppositions, both past and future, [and I have] compiled [these tables] at the request of many noble Christians, after having praised God and having petitioned Him as the one who straightens His way before us. [6] And it seems to us that with this knowledge four benefits can be obtained.

[7] The first, since all knowledge is desired by human beings, and the knowledge whose object is noblest is the most desired, it is manifest that to know this computation is much desired because it is evident that the celestial bodies are nobler than those of the lower world, together with the benefit that follows for the human condition from what we see in those motions of nobility, ordering, and rightness without error, as Ptolemy says in the first [book] of his Almagest. [8] And what can be most profitable in this is the calculation of the true conjunctions and oppositions of the luminaries, because we know now more completely than ever about the other calculations of the motions of the other celestial bodies, in such a way that we do not find any error whatsoever

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