Spheres and firmament

Use in the book

The celestial vocabulary first helps to arrange spirits. Higher spheres are assigned more excellent inhabitants in the Ficino-related margin, while the body adds “perhaps” and passes through a conjectural chain of ancient authorities. Zanchi’s rejection follows; another margin places the spirits beneath the celestial spheres, in the air and below. The immense space available to such beings is then argued from a falling stone’s imagined journey from the eighth sphere and the further crystalline or watery heavens. The conditional calculation and inconsistent figures do not amount to a measured universe.

Burton uses that enormous scale in other kinds of argument. A smallest visible star in the firmament supposedly dwarfs the earth, and hypothetical inhabited stellar systems make earthly fame seem smaller still. In praise of study, the motion of the eighth sphere represents an investigation said to have occupied Thabit ibn Qurra for forty years and more. The same celestial nouns can thus humble worldly reputation or dignify intellectual labour without establishing the reported measurements or biography.

In the airy digression, Burton rises like a hawk towards ethereal orbs and celestial spheres. The dispute he encounters asks whether air and heaven have one substance or two. Tycho’s two-substance position remains distinct from Rothmann’s one-matter account, even though Burton finds qualified agreement that the heavens are penetrable and soft, with planets moving as birds in air and fish in water. The original margin combines a claim about identical transparent media with a claim about yielding matter; it cannot simply erase that difference. Matter, Air and Essence and quintessence already explain this substance vocabulary.

Comets and intersecting planetary motions become arguments against hard barriers. The quoted Tycho margin describes comets following the course of no sphere. Burton rejects the outer watery movers, the supposed heavens above the firmament and the mechanical multiplication of real orbs. Yet the continuation admits circles for teaching, method and calculation. In Tycho’s moon calculation the structures are suppositions, not hard bodies, and the negative also covers their supposed music. Rejecting physical clockwork is not the same as refusing all circular representations.

The fixed-star firmament then changes role with the model. If the earth stands still and the heavens turn daily, Gilbert asks what can drive that immense revolution. The printed calculation lacks a unit for one figure, and the following arrow and riding comparisons are not reconciled. Moving-earth alternatives assign the firmament a much slower motion. They also produce a vast interval beyond Saturn, apparently empty of stars, which Burton’s own margin immediately says may contain unseen planets. The objection and its qualification belong together.

That vastness leads to a conditional plurality of worlds, not a settled equation of all cosmologies. The firmament may be “infinite, or approaching infinity”; the whole Saturnian system would shrink to a point at stellar distances. Burton asks why the stars may not be suns with planets, but then records Kepler’s refusal of Bruno’s infinite worlds and asks what kind of beings could inhabit them. Later “planetary and firmamentals worlds” reappears as a premise in a reported argument for many spirits and religions. In neither setting should the noun remove if, perhaps or the named opponent.

Burton’s account of Tycho says that planets wander through air without spheres, keeping their times, distances and proper motion through the power God gives them. His accompanying claim that Tycho’s stars are immovable remains an acknowledged difficulty in the supplied note, not a premise for silently reconstructing the entire system. The later report of Vanini gives intelligences the role of moving spheres and mediating celestial effects. Its continuation preserves Vanini’s stated Christian rejection of the doctrines he recites. These are different claims about agency, not interchangeable meanings of sphere.

The highest heaven can also become a limit that a speaker is accused of crossing. The Coimbra explanation invokes the Empyrean’s influence, whereas the later satire makes theological pretenders soar beyond spheres and stars to inspect God himself. Burton contrasts their earnest pretensions with writers who openly announce fictitious journeys. A crystalline, watery heaven belongs to a different question: he insists that the water should be understood in the middle region of the air and repeats an objection about the time water from a remote heaven would take to fall at Noah’s flood. Neither heavenly label identifies a verified location.

Away from these disputes, spheres can be ordinary shapes or instruments of representation. Jupiter’s printed “spear,” interpreted as a sphere, is an imagined device for seeing hidden earthly conduct; the sphere attributed to Janssonius Caesius illustrates a hypothesis. Spherical stones are marvels in a travel catalogue, while spherical triangles are mathematical exercises. Lessius’s sphere is a proposed volume for a local hell, followed by an alternative account and a refusal to settle concealed matters by contention. Shape, representation and physical place must therefore remain distinguishable.

Consolation draws another use from the familiar heavens: their unimpeded courses contrast with people’s interrupted endeavours. The next planetary comparison instead figures changing human fortune. Love too can borrow celestial language without claiming a mechanism: friendship and charity are as the sun in the heavens, and a faithful husband is a wife’s “orbe and spheare,” her entire world. The later dancing of heavenly bodies to the “musick of the Sphears” remains qualified by belike and belongs to Music and harmony, not a reversal that proves literal sounding shells.

Finally, the firmament of Psalm 19 joins every plant as evidence of divine presence. Its scriptural testimony is not a specification of the eighth sphere’s material. Nor are the women praised as “Firmamenta familiæ” miniature heavens: the Latin calls them supports of the household. That domestic praise is framed by benefit to men, while the unresolved marginal name Lœbeus does not license an invented source attribution.

Related entries

Epicycles and eccentrics: the named mathematical constructions and their alleged physical realization.

Hypothesis and supposition: the status of models and conditional premises.

Elements: the contested elemental fire and the air below the heavens.

Probability and conjecture: graded judgments within the celestial argument.

Paradox: disputed earth-motion and cosmic satire.

Prime mover: the existing Primum mobile family.

Matter; Air; Essence and quintessence: substance and penetrability.

Music and harmony: the denied and figurative music of the spheres.

Daemon and genius: spirits assigned to celestial worlds.

Atoms and infinite worlds: the world/plurality family, including orbes meaning worlds rather than celestial shells.

Places to read

1. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 15–17the imagined sphere of universal inspection.
2. Subsection 2 A Digression on the Nature of Spirits Evil Angels or Devils and How They Cause Melancholy · paragraphs 35–44celestial inhabitants, their rejection and the conditional distance calculation.
3. Subsection 14 Self-Love, Vainglory, Praise, Honour, Excessive Applause, Pride, Too Much Joy, and So on, as Causes · paragraphs 39–43stellar vastness against worldly fame.
4. Subsection 15 Love of Learning or Excessive Study With a Digression on the Misery of Scholars and Why the Muses Are Melancholy · paragraphs 30–32the eighth sphere and learned labour.
5. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 12–14the hawk-like opening of the digression.
6. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 25–28the calculated sphere of hell and the following reservation.
7. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 26–36substance, penetrability, orbs and mathematical suppositions.
8. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 1–15lunar title, fixed-star region, watery heaven and rival motions.
9. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 20–27stellar vastness and disputed inhabitants.
10. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 32–38, 1–5competing models and completed satirical response.
11. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 6–15the pretended ascent into the Empyrean.
12. Member 4 Exercise of Body and Mind Regulated · paragraphs 40–42, 1–12mathematical recreation, instruments and spherical triangles.
13. Section 3 Member 1. Subsection 1 A Digression on Consolation, Containing Remedies for Every Kind of Discontent · paragraphs 7–13celestial order and human change.
14. Member 3 Charity Combining All Three Kinds of Love Pleasant Profitable and Honourable · paragraphs 28–36the sun-and-friendship comparison extended to love.
15. Subsection 5 The Last and Best Cure for Love Melancholy Is to Let Lovers Have Their Desire · paragraphs 56–58household mainstays.
16. The Cure of Jealousy: Avoiding Occasions for It, Keeping Occupied; Good Counsel; Disregarding It, Not Watching Women or Locking Them Up; Concealing It, and So On · paragraphs 5–9the husband as orb and sphere.
17. Causes of Religious Melancholy. From the Devil, Through Miracles, Apparitions and Oracles. His Instruments or Agents: Politicians, Priests, Impostors, Heretics and Blind Guides. In Them: Credulity, Fear, Blind Zeal, Ignorance, Solitude, Curiosity, Pride, Vanity, Presumption and So On. His Devices: Fasting, Solitude, Hope, Fear and the Rest · paragraphs 13–16Psalm 19 in the argument for divine presence.
18. Subsection 5 The Cure of Religious Melancholy · paragraphs 14–19stellar worlds within the religious-plurality argument.
19. Member 2 Subsection 1 Religious Melancholy From Deficiency: Those Affected—Epicures, Atheists, Hypocrites, the Worldly and Complacent, Carnalists, All Impious People, Impenitent Sinners, and Others · paragraphs 19–27intelligences as movers and the reported disclaimer.

In this edition

“eight Spear” and “eight sphear” become “eighth sphere”; printed “spear” in Jupiter’s hand becomes “sphere.” The original readings remain retrievable and should not be confused with weapon senses elsewhere. The modernization’s “outermost celestial sphere” unfolds Primum mobile, already explained in Prime mover; it is not a printed English sphere attestation.

Firmament remains “firmament” in the stellar discussion and the Psalm quotation, but becomes “heavens” in the comparisons with friendship and love. “Firmamentals worlds” becomes “stellar worlds.” “Firmamenta familiæ” instead becomes “the mainstays of the household”: Firmamenta supplies mainstays and familiæ supplies the household relation. These equivalents preserve differences of sense rather than enforcing one celestial meaning.

The Latin forms keep their grammatical jobs. Sphæra names a sphere; sphæræ in “suæ sphæræ consortes” gives the sphere to which inhabitants belong. In “nullius orbis ductum,” orbis supplies of a sphere, while nullius and ductum supply no and course. In “quæ propriis orbibus feruntur,” orbibus supplies in orbits, not the whole claim about planets near the sun. The original quotations in the accompanying notes are distinguished from their supplied editorial translations.

The citation component “sphær.” maps to Sphere, not to the whole commentary on chapter 2 of Sacrobosco. Likewise “orbe” contributes orb to “in orbe Lunæ,” with Lunæ supplying lunar or of the moon; the wider title contributes On Phenomena. “Empirean” is modernized to “Empyrean,” while the contradictory or conditional cosmological claims remain attributed instead of being rewritten into a consistent modern astronomy.

sphere; orb: celestial region or structure

A celestial region, circuit or enclosing sphere; the local argument determines whether it is asserted as a physical structure, used as a model, or retained as a way of naming a region.

Grammar: Singular and plural nouns; sphere, spheres, spheare, Spheares, sphear, Spear, orbe, Orbes, orbs, orbes.

Original text: “had several places in the Spheares perhaps, for as every spheare is higher”. In the modern column: “Perhaps they had different places in the spheres, since the higher each sphere stands”. Levels of celestial residence within the reported hierarchy of spirits. Burton reports a chain of Platonic and related opinions; he marks the residence perhaps and follows it with Zanchi’s rejection at 029-40. Spheares and spheare correspond to spheres and sphere. Perhaps moves to the beginning but continues to qualify the allocation.

Original text: “the starry heaven, or eight Spear”. In the modern column: “the starry heaven, or eighth sphere”. The fixed-star sphere in a conditional calculation of a falling stone’s journey. According to these men and if that be true qualify the reasoning; note at 029-42 flags the inconsistent distance figures. The modernization interprets Spear as sphere and eight as eighth; these are not printed in those forms here.

Original text: “the motion of the eight sphear”. In the modern column: “the motion of the eighth sphere”. The fixed-star sphere as an object of laborious astronomical study. Forty years and more is reported with some write, within praise of learned effort, not independently verified biography. Eight becomes ordinal eighth; sphear is modernized to sphere.

Original text: “æthereall orbs and celestiall spheres”. In the modern column: “ethereal orbs and celestial spheres”. The imagined destinations of Burton’s soaring digression. The author compares his recreational digression with a hawk’s flight and promises to return to his former subject. The paired nouns and their adjectives remain distinct within the synonymous amplification.

Original text: “cut one anothers orbs”. In the modern column: “cut across one another’s spheres”. Planetary regions intersect in the argument against hard celestial barriers. Burton reports demonstrations from comets and planetary motions; his Mars example and the paired names remain historical claims. Orbs becomes spheres; cut becomes cut across, identifying intersecting paths or regions rather than chopping material shells.

Original text: “reall orbes”. In the modern column: “real spheres”. Physical celestial structures, treated as hard and impenetrable in the account Burton attacks. The asserted hardness is explicitly rejected as absurd and ridiculous; the named authorities’ individual positions are not independently verified. Reall supplies real; orbes supplies spheres.

Original text: “the Planets without Orbes to wander in the Aire”. In the modern column: “The planets wander through the air without spheres”. The denial of physical carriers while regular planetary motion is retained. Burton attributes this to Tycho and gives divine power as the planets’ governing principle. Note the accompanying note flags his awkward claim that Tycho’s stars are immovable. Without keeps its negative force; this does not deny the existence of planets or their motion.

Original text: “Those heavenly bodies indeed are freely carried in their orbes without any impediment or interruption”. In the modern column: “The heavenly bodies travel freely in their spheres, without hindrance or interruption”. Ordered heavenly circuits supply a contrast to obstructed human life. This is consolation by contrast; the following planetary analogy at 087-13 emphasizes changing human fortunes. Orbes becomes spheres; without any impediment or interruption describes motion, not a fresh physical account of the medium.

Original text: “the Intelligences that move the Orbes”. In the modern column: “the intelligences that move the celestial spheres”. Spheres moved by incorporeal intelligences in the naturalistic explanation under discussion. This continues Burton’s report of Vanini/Pomponazzi; the following 162-27 preserves the reported author’s Christian disclaimer. A denial of spirits here does not deny every incorporeal intelligence. Move is causative; intelligences are the agents and spheres the objects. Celestial is an editorial specification.

firmament: fixed-star region

The region or sphere of the fixed stars in the cosmological accounts being compared.

Grammar: Singular noun, commonly capitalized Firmament.

Original text: “the least visible Star in the Firmament”. In the modern column: “the smallest visible star in the firmament”. The stellar expanse diminishes earthly glory by comparison. The inhabited infinite worlds are introduced by if and as some will, not asserted as observed facts. Firmament remains firmament; the stated star size belongs to the comparison, not the noun’s definition.

Original text: “those Heavens I mean above the Firmament”. In the modern column: “I mean the heavens above the firmament”. The starry region is distinguished from further heavens placed above it. Burton calls the first watery movers fictitious and rejects them in the comet argument. Above supplies the spatial relation; firmament does not itself mean the additional outer heavens.

Original text: “every point of the Firmament, and in the Æquator”. In the modern column: “Every point of the firmament at the equator”. A supposedly rotating fixed-star sphere is the subject of an objection about extreme speed. Gilbert’s challenge is reported under the condition of a stationary earth and moving heavens. No unit is printed for 176660; the figures are not repaired. The awkward original and in is resolved as at the equator; Firmament remains the stellar region.

Original text: “a single motion to the Firmament, which moves in 30. or 26. thousand yeeres”. In the modern column: “They give the firmament a single motion, completed in thirty or twenty-six thousand years”. A slow stellar motion replaces daily rotation within the reported alternatives. Burton distinguishes a moving earth around a central sun from the rotating central earth he calls more probable. The two alternative periods remain his. The modernization supplies the repeated they give; the noun does not make the stated alternatives identical systems.

Original text: “if the Firmament be of such an incomparable bigness”. In the modern column: “if the firmament is of such incomparable size”. The stellar expanse is enlarged in the conditional argument towards many worlds. Copernicall Giants is playful. Infinitum aut infinito proximum preserves infinite or approaching infinity; 075-22–26 develops and qualifies the inference. If remains conditional; bigness becomes size without prescribing a geometrical measure.

Original text: “the bigness, thickness, compass of the Firmament”. In the modern column: “the size, thickness, and extent of the firmament”. The celestial extent is an object of mathematical investigation. Burton praises calculation as recreation; the historical celestial framework is not replaced with a modern model. Compass is extent here, not a navigational instrument; the list preserves separate dimensions.

firmament: visible heavens

The heavens or sky, used as the setting of the sun or as a visible declaration of divine workmanship, rather than narrowly the eighth sphere.

Grammar: Singular noun Firmament in comparison and scriptural quotation.

Original text: “As the Sun is in the Firmament, so is friendship in the world”. In the modern column: “As the sun is in the heavens, so friendship is in the world”. The sun’s place in the heavens supplies a comparison for friendship’s beneficent place in life. This is praise of friendship. The adjacent Lucian margin has sun in the world, not an identical Latin firmament phrase. Firmament becomes heavens; the whole as/so comparison is preserved.

Original text: “as the Sun in the Firmament, (I say) so is love in the world”. In the modern column: “As the sun is in the heavens, I say, so love is in the world”. The earlier comparison returns in praise of unqualified love of God and humankind. Burton’s theological praise draws on the sun’s central importance to the image, not a technical relocation of the sun into the fixed-star sphere. The modern supplies the copula is in the first clause and retains I say; Firmament alone supplies heavens.

Original text: “the Firmament declareth his handie work”. In the modern column: “the firmament declares his handiwork”. The biblical sky is made witness to the Creator’s work. Burton quotes Psalm 19 in an argument for divine presence; the preceding universal-belief claim has an explicit exception. This is not a definition of one astronomical shell. The supplied modernization retains firmament and modernizes declareth and handie work.

firmamentals worlds

Stellar worlds, distinguished in the sentence from planetary worlds.

Grammar: Printed adjectival form firmamentals modifying plural worlds.

Original text: “if there be infinite planetary and firmamentals worlds, as some will”. In the modern column: “if there are infinitely many planetary and stellar worlds, as some maintain”. Stellar worlds supply one part of the conditional argument for many ruling spirits and religions. The condition if and as some will remain; this continues a reported argument for religious plurality, not an unqualified endorsement of infinite religions. Firmamentals corresponds to stellar; worlds remains worlds. Infinite becomes infinitely many; the plural-looking adjective is retained in original evidence.

sphere: globe or representation

A globe or spherical representation used to display the world or illustrate a celestial system.

Grammar: Singular noun, printed spear and sphere.

Original text: “in a spear, which he held in his hand”. In the modern column: “in a sphere held in his hand”. Jupiter’s imagined handheld globe displays everything happening on earth. Burton imagines instruments of universal inspection in his satire; the precise Martianus source remains uncollated. The modern interprets printed spear as sphere; this is an editorial reading, not a silently substituted original spelling.

Original text: “Iansonius Cæsius hath illustrated in a sphere”. In the modern column: “Janssonius Caesius has illustrated with a sphere”. A sphere is an instrument or representation illustrating the moving-earth hypothesis. Burton reports the publication controversy; the precise identity and bibliographical reference remain unresolved in the accompanying note. No specific instrument construction is inferred. In becomes with, marking the sphere as the illustrative medium, not a celestial place inhabited by the writer.

sphere; spherical: geometrical shape

A round solid or its spherical shape; spherical triangles belong to the geometry of a spherical surface.

Grammar: Singular noun Sphere; adjectives sphericall and Spherical.

Original text: “those sphericall stones in Cuba which nature hath so made”. In the modern column: “the spherical stones in Cuba, which nature has made in that shape”. The adjective describes the reported stones’ shape, not their celestial location. A catalogue of reported natural marvels, not a verified account of the stones’ formation. Sphericall becomes spherical; in that shape explicitly refers back to the adjective.

Original text: “a Sphere able to hold eight hundred thousand millions of damned bodies”. In the modern column: “a sphere capable of holding eight hundred thousand million damned bodies”. A geometrical volume is used in Lessius’s calculation of a local hell. Lessius is the reported calculator. Note the accompanying note does not repair the dimensional reasoning; 073-27–28 immediately offers alternatives and ends in doubt. Sphere names the volume; able/capable states the claimed capacity.

Original text: “calculate Spherical Triangles”. In the modern column: “calculate spherical triangles”. Problems on a spherical surface are offered as absorbing mathematical exercise. Burton’s allowance of casting a nativity later in the list is qualified; it is not a condition added to spherical geometry. The phrase keeps its geometrical object; this is not a claim that a planet is a triangle.

orbe and spheare

A beloved person’s entire world, or encompassing centre of devotion.

Grammar: Paired singular nouns in a figurative possessive description.

Original text: “her wealth, treasure, world, joy, delight, orbe and spheare”. In the modern column: “her wealth, treasure, world, joy, delight, orb and sphere”. A faithful wife’s husband becomes her whole world in Burton’s expanding praise. Burton attributes the example to Phocion’s wife; the accompanying note identifies Plutarch’s narrower adornment image and Burton’s expansion. The argument prefers fidelity to coercive confinement. Orbe and spheare become orb and sphere; the surrounding wealth and treasure are separate images, not definitions of the astronomical nouns.

sphæra

Sphere; in the cited hierarchy, a celestial sphere with inhabitants belonging to it.

Grammar: Nominative singular sphæra and genitive singular sphæræ.

Original margin: “Ut sphæra quælibet super nos”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “as each sphere lies above us”. Each higher sphere has supposedly more excellent inhabitants. The margin cites Ficino on Plato’s dialogue on love. The body hesitates whether the view comes from Plato or Ficino and later reports its rejection. Sphæra supplies sphere, quælibet each, and super nos above us; lies is supplied to complete the English clause.

Original margin: “suæ sphæræ consortes”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “belonging to that sphere”. Inhabitants are related to their own sphere. The same quoted margin, not a second independent celestial doctrine. Sphæræ is genitive singular sphere’s/of the sphere; consortes supplies belonging and suæ the relation to their own sphere. The full phrase is not a translation of sphæræ alone.

orbis: celestial sphere or course

A celestial sphere, orb or course, whose grammatical role distinguishes a moving region, a traversed orbit and an object moved by an intelligence.

Grammar: Genitive singular orbis; accusative singular orbem; ablative plural orbibus; accusative or nominative plural orbes.

Original margin: “infra cœlestes orbes”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “below the celestial spheres”. The sphere-region is the upper limit beneath which the spirits are placed. The marginal quotation belongs to the rejection of the preceding celestial-spirit speculation; the spirits are reserved for judgment below the spheres. Infra takes accusative orbes; cœlestes supplies celestial.

Original margin: “qui nullius orbis ductum comitantur”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “which follow the course of no sphere”. Comets fail to follow any sphere’s prescribed course in the argument against solid barriers. The quoted Tycho margin argues refutation, not the existence of a comet-carrying sphere. Orbis is genitive singular of sphere; nullius supplies no, ductum course, and comitantur follow.

Original margin: “quæ propriis orbibus feruntur”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “carried in their own orbits”. The reported Bourbon stars have their own paths near the sun. Tarde’s claimed planets are contrasted with Galileo’s spots and Scheiner’s surface account. Orbibus supplies in orbits; propriis supplies their own and feruntur carried.

Original margin: “stellæ, æthereique orbes”. Supplied note translation or expansion: “the stars and heavenly spheres”. Heavenly spheres are paired with stars in the comparison with troubled human lives. Quoted Lorchan margin; the parallel body condenses it and the note flags the awkward opening without repairing it. Orbes supplies spheres; æthereique supplies and heavenly, not a separate claim about material aether.

Original text: “Intelligentia quæ movet orbem mediante Cœlo”. In the modern column: “The intelligence that moves the sphere, through the agency of heaven”. The sphere is the object moved by an intelligence. This fragment is quoted within the reported naturalistic doctrine; the later reported disclaimer at 162-27 remains essential. Orbem is accusative sphere; intelligentia is subject, movet moves, and mediante Cœlo gives the mediating agency.

sphær.

Sphere, the title component identifying Sacrobosco’s astronomical treatise in a commentary citation.

Grammar: Abbreviated title noun, read as genitive singular sphæræ.

Original margin: “Comment. in 2. cap. sphær. Io. de Sacr. Bosc.” Supplied note translation or expansion: “Commentary on chapter 2 of Johannes de Sacrobosco’s Sphere”. The Clavius-related margin cites a commentary on Sacrobosco’s Sphere. The citation accompanies the immense-speed calculation. It does not verify the missing unit or unusual denominator in the body. Sphær. maps only to Sphere. Comment. gives Commentary, in 2. cap. on chapter 2, and Io. de Sacr. Bosc. Johannes de Sacrobosco; the full quotation is bibliographic context, not the component’s definition.

in orbe Lunæ

In the lunar orb; the moon’s orb as the object of a cited work about lunar phenomena.

Grammar: Preposition plus ablative singular orbe and genitive singular Lunæ, inside a work title.

Original text: “de phænomenis in orbe Lunæ”. In the modern column: “On Phenomena in the Lunar Orb”. The phrase identifies the subject of La Galla’s disputation with Galileo. Burton says La Galla will not admit celestial generation and corruption; the cited title is not itself an assertion of an impenetrable lunar shell. De phænomenis supplies On Phenomena; in orbe supplies in the Orb and Lunæ supplies Lunar/of the moon. Orbe alone is not the entire title.

Empyrean heaven

The highest heaven in the traditional Christian cosmology invoked by these passages, beyond the ordinary starry heavens.

Grammar: Adjective and singular noun; Empirean Heaven, Empyrean heaven.

Original text: “the influence of that Empirean Heaven”. In the modern column: “the influence of the Empyrean heaven”. The Coimbra commentators’ explanation invokes an influence from the highest heaven. Burton reports this among competing explanations of environmental variation. Empirean modernizes to Empyrean; influence remains a distinct claimed causal relation.

Original text: “transcend spheres, heaven, stars, into that Empyrean heaven”. In the modern column: “pass beyond spheres, heaven, and stars into the Empyrean heaven”. The highest heaven becomes the destination of presumptuous theological inquiry. Burton mocks the theologasters as gigantic Cyclopes claiming knowledge of God; the preceding fiction disclaimers belong to satirical writers, not to a literal report of ascent. The spatial catalogue distinguishes the Empyrean from the spheres and stars passed beyond.

crystalline and watery heaven

An additional heaven described as crystalline or watery, distinguished from the fixed-star region and challenged in the astronomical digression.

Grammar: Adjectival descriptions of further heavens: Crystalline, watery, watry.

Original text: “those other heavens, whether they be Crystalline or watery which Maginus addes”. In the modern column: “the further heavens, whether crystalline or watery, which Magini adds”. Additional heavens enlarge the supposed space available to spirits. Burton reports Magini’s additions and a speculative multiplication of spirits, then dismisses the relevance of what lies above us. The modifiers describe the other/further heavens; whether and perhaps keep the uncertainties visible.

Original text: “those fictitious first watry movers”. In the modern column: “those imaginary first watery movers”. Outer motive heavens are combined with the claim of a watery heaven. Burton rejects these in the comet argument; the first-mover family itself is not newly claimed here. Fictitious becomes imaginary; first watry movers remains first watery movers. The following explanation identifies heavens above the firmament.

Original text: “a Crystalline watry heaven”. In the modern column: “a crystalline, watery heaven”. An upper watery heaven is contrasted with water in the middle atmospheric region. Burton reports Patrizi and the scholastics, then insists on an atmospheric reading. The hypothetical Noah-flood fall-time calculation is attributed to some and not independently checked. Crystalline and watry both qualify heaven; neither means the cold middle region by itself.

Firmamenta familiæ

The supports or mainstays of the household: a description of women in praise of marriage, not multiple celestial firmaments.

Grammar: Nominative plural neuter Firmamenta with genitive singular familiæ.

Original text: “Firmamenta familiæ”. In the modern column: “the mainstays of the household”. The plural supplies an image of supporting domestic life. Burton’s praise presents women through their benefit to men. The margin names Lœbeus without an identified work; the phrase is not treated as a verified quotation from a resolved source. Firmamenta gives mainstays; familiæ gives of the household. Neither component translates the whole phrase.

Earlier explanation: Primum mobile

Earlier explanation: primum mobile · Primum mobile

For Primum mobile, see Prime mover.

Context passages: the passage, the passage. These are reading contexts, not additional occurrences of the cited form.

Reference scope: Prime mover explains the astronomical Primum mobile in the imagined measurement system; modern celestial sphere is not a newly printed English sphere.

Earlier explanation: Sphears

Earlier explanation: music of the spheres

For Sphears, the passage, see Music and harmony.

Context passages: the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage. These are reading contexts, not additional occurrences of the cited form.

Reference scope: Music and harmony explains musick of the Sphears and the earlier denial of music-making; retain its printed spelling as an existing route rather than duplicate it.

Earlier explanation: matter

Earlier explanation: matter · local use 6

For matter, see Matter.

Context passages: the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage. These are reading contexts, not additional occurrences of the cited form.

Reference scope: The one matter throughout claim stays with Matter. It is contextual support for the penetrability debate, not a new matter record.

Earlier explanation: Ayre

Earlier explanation: Ayre

For Ayre, see Air.

Context passages: the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage. These are reading contexts, not additional occurrences of the cited form.

Reference scope: Air explains Ayre in the two-substances comparison; the present article distinguishes region and physical barrier.

Earlier explanation: quinta essentia

Earlier explanation: quinta essentia

For quinta essentia, see Essence and quintessence.

Reference scope: Essence and quintessence explains quinta essentia in the rejected Aristotelian account. No new fifth-essence record is counted.

Earlier explanation: Genii

Earlier explanation: genius · Genii

For Genii, see Daemon and genius.

Context passages: the passage, the passage, the passage, the passage. These are reading contexts, not additional occurrences of the cited form.

Reference scope: Daemon and genius explains Genii in the conditional stellar-worlds argument; firmamentals has a separate adjectival focus here.