From the book
Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici
Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Hostes celestes means heavenly inhabitants. Their life supplies a comparison with lower creatures living amid corruptible matter, rather than a catalogue of extraterrestrial species.
II.3.9 assigns purer and subtler creatures to higher places and more corporeal creatures to lower regions. It then states a counterfactual: if earth and its products were as pure as heaven, animals would live the same life as the heavenly inhabitants. The if-clause is essential; it does not say that earthly animals already enjoy that condition. Parental contamination and excessive consumption explain degrees of corruption within the author's physiology, not modern measures of environmental exposure.
The English preserves the hypothetical “if” and renders hostes as inhabitants rather than enemies or guests in the modern casual sense. The note on inquinament explains contamination without validating the inherited-humour account.
Places to read
- Book Two · Chapter 3 · Unit 9A counterfactual compares hypothetical pure earthly animals with celestial life.
Attested forms
hostes celestes; si la terre; hostes