Bonaventure

Articulus II. De caelis quoad figuram.

Consequenter quaeritur de caelis quantum ad figuram⁴. Et circa hoc quaeruntur duo. Primo quaeritur, utrum caeli habeant orbicularem figuram. Secundo quaeritur, utrum habeant dextram et sinistram.

Quaestio I. An caelum sit figurae orbicularis.

Quod autem habeant orbicularem figuram, videtur⁶:

1. Et primo experientia sensus. Nam in quamcumque partem terrae vel aquae quis eat, caelum semper videtur aequaliter distare a terra¹; hoc autem non esset, nisi haberet orbicularem figuram: ergo etc.⁵

2. Item, videmus sensibiliter, caelum moveri circulariter; sed motus circularis non competit nisi figurae circulari: ergo caelum est orbicularis figurae².

3. Item, simplicissimo corpori simplicissima debetur figura³; sed caelum est simplicissimum inter corpora, cum sit subtilissimum: ergo simplicissimam debet habere figuram. Sed haec est figura circularis: ergo etc.

4. Item, ei corpori, quod est maxime contentivum, debetur figura capacissima; sed caelum est contentivum omnium, sicut dicit Damascenus⁷, et figura orbicularis est capacissima, sicut manifeste convincit ratio et sensus: ergo etc.

5. Item, corpori perfectissimo perfectissima debetur figura; sed caelum est perfectissimum omnium, et figura orbicularis est perfectissima omnium figurarum, sicut probatur in alia scientia⁸, maxime cum in ea reperiatur perfectio senarii — sexies enim tantum reperitur in circumferentia, quantum est a circumferentia ad centrum — ergo etc.

6. Item, corpori velocissimo debetur figura maxime ad motum idonea; sed caelum est velocissimum corpus, figura autem maxime apta ad motum est orbicularis: ergo etc.

Ad oppositum arguitur: 1. Primo per illud Psalmi⁹: Extendens caelum sicut pellem, alia translatio, sicut cameram: ergo videtur, quod caelum se habeat ad modum tentorii, et ita videtur esse figurae semicircularis.

2. Item, ratione videtur, quia in universo nihil est superfluum, sed omnia facta sunt propter hominem¹⁰: ergo nihil ponendum est, quod non valeat ad hominis usum. Sed si caelum esset semicircularis figurae, sufficeret ad tegendam terram inhabitatam ab hominibus: ergo videtur, quod superfluat alius semicirculus.

3. Item, caeli sunt solidissimi firmati, sicut dicitur in Iob¹¹; et hoc innuit ipsum nomen octavae sphaerae, quae dicitur firmamentum: ergo maxime competit eis figura, secundum quam maxime stabi-

liuntur; haec autem magis est semicircularis quam circularis: ergo etc.

4. Item, si caelum est figurae orbicularis: ergo aut aliqua pars caeli erit vacua, aut multo plus distabit corpus Christi ab aliquibus Beatis, quam caelum a terra, cum ab una circumferentia caeli ad aliam terra in medio consistat. Ergo si non est congruum ponere, quod aliqua pars empyrei vacua sit a continentia Beatorum, nec est ponere tantam distantiam inter Christum et alia corpora beata; videtur, quod empyreum non sit orbicularis figurae; et si hoc: ergo nec crystallinum, nec firmamentum.

Conclusio. Caelum videtur habere figuram orbicularem.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod ad istam quaestionem secundum philosophiam satis planum est respondere, quamvis expositores sacrae Scripturae videantur de ea loqui dubie. Hoc enim faciunt propter ipsius sacrae Scripturae reverentiam, non audentes explicare quod illa divina dispositione voluit subticere; vel hoc faciunt ad reprimendum nostram curiositatem, volentes, nos in his quae dicuntur in Lege et Prophetis, contentos esse et nihil ultra haec inquirere. Quia tamen curiosorum instantia non desistit, necesse habent doctores sacrae Scripturae multa determinare, quae sine salutis dispendio possent de facili pertransire. — Notandum.

Propter quod ad praedictam quaestionem respondent et iuxta rationis et sensus attestationem dicunt, caelum habere figuram orbicularem, et hanc maxime sibi competere tum ratione simplicitatis, tum ratione capacitatis, tum ratione perfectionis, tum ratione mobilitatis, sicut patet pertractanti. — Conclusio.

Ad argumenta in contrarium:

1. Ad illud ergo quod obiicitur in contrarium de sacra Scriptura, quae dicit, caelum sicut pellem esse extensum, vel sicut cameram; dicendum, quod Scriptura, condescendens parvitati simplicium, modo vulgari frequenter loquitur; et ideo, cum loquitur de caelo, de ipso loquitur, secundum quod apparet sensui nostro; et dicit ad modum pellis, vel camerae extensum quantum ad nostrum hemisphaerium. — Solutio oppositorum.

2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod pars inferioris hemisphaerii non est utilis ad usum humanum; dicendum, quod falsum est, immo est necessaria, si debet caelum super nos revolvi circulariter; et una pars servit nobis de die, alia servit de nocte.

3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod caeli solidissimi sunt firmati; dicendum, quod firmitas illa non excludit mobilitatem quamcumque, sed illam solum, qua aliquid movetur sursum et deorsum secundum motum rectum; unde firmum dicitur caelum, quia non movetur ad locum. Nihilominus tamen est mobile, quia movetur circa locum, vel in loco; et tali dispositioni magis competit figura orbicularis quam aliqua alia¹².

4. Ad illud quod quaeritur, quomodo empyreum, si circulare est, undique Sanctorum corporibus replebitur; dicendum, quod etsi non sit certum, qualiter ibi Sancti et per quem modum locentur; tamen, quocumque modo dicatur, sive quod sint in uno semicirculo empyrei¹³, sive quod in toto, nihil impedit, utrumque poni. Si enim in toto sunt, virtutem visivam habebunt adeo potentem, quod Christum videre poterunt, ubicumque sit. Si vero sunt in media parte caeli, altera nec est vacua nec superflua, sicut magnum palatium non est vacuum, quando est unus magnus inhabitator, quamvis non impleat omnem partem. Magnitudo enim curiae et spatiositas, etsi non impleatur totaliter, facit tamen ad ostensionem regalis magnificentiae. Sed hoc melius sciemus, quando videbimus. — Notandum.

Article II. On the heavens with respect to figure.

It is then asked concerning the heavens with respect to figure⁴. And on this matter two questions are asked. First, it is asked whether the heavens have a spherical figure. Second, it is asked whether they have a right and a left.

Question I. Whether the heaven is of spherical figure.

That they have a spherical figure is shown⁶:

1. And first by the experience of the senses. For to whatever part of the earth or of the water one may go, the heaven always appears to be equally distant from the earth¹; but this would not be so, unless it had a spherical figure: therefore etc.⁵

2. Likewise, we see by the senses that the heaven is moved circularly; but circular motion does not befit anything except a circular figure: therefore the heaven is of spherical figure².

3. Likewise, to the simplest body the simplest figure is owed³; but the heaven is the simplest among bodies, since it is the most subtle: therefore it must have the simplest figure. But this is the circular figure: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, to that body which is most containing, the most capacious figure is owed; but the heaven is the container of all things, as Damascene says⁷, and the spherical figure is the most capacious, as reason and sense plainly establish: therefore etc.

5. Likewise, to the most perfect body the most perfect figure is owed; but the heaven is the most perfect of all, and the spherical figure is the most perfect of all figures, as is proved in another science⁸, especially since in it the perfection of the senary is found — for six times is found in the circumference as much as the distance from the circumference to the center — therefore etc.

6. Likewise, to the swiftest body is owed the figure most apt for motion; but the heaven is the swiftest body, and the figure most apt for motion is the spherical: therefore etc.

On the contrary it is argued: 1. First by that of the Psalm⁹: Stretching out the heaven like a skin, another translation, like a tent: therefore it seems that the heaven has itself after the manner of a tent, and so seems to be of semicircular figure.

2. Likewise, by reason it seems so, because in the universe nothing is superfluous, but all things were made for man¹⁰: therefore nothing is to be posited which is not of use to man. But if the heaven were of semicircular figure, it would suffice to cover the earth inhabited by men: therefore it seems that the other semicircle is superfluous.

3. Likewise, the heavens are most solidly firmed, as is said in Job¹¹; and the very name of the eighth sphere, which is called firmament, implies this: therefore the figure most befitting them is that according to which they are most stabilized; but this is more the semicircular than the circular: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, if the heaven is of spherical figure: then either some part of the heaven will be empty, or the body of Christ will be much more distant from certain of the Blessed than the heaven is from the earth, since the earth lies in the middle between one circumference of the heaven and the other. Therefore, if it is not fitting to posit that some part of the empyrean is empty of the containing of the Blessed, neither is it to be posited that there is such a distance between Christ and the other beatified bodies; it seems that the empyrean is not of spherical figure; and if this, then neither the crystalline nor the firmament.

Conclusion. The heaven is seen to have a spherical figure.

I respond: It must be said that to this question it is sufficiently plain to respond according to philosophy, although the expositors of sacred Scripture seem to speak about it doubtfully. They do this out of reverence for sacred Scripture itself, not daring to explain what God by divine disposition willed to leave unsaid; or they do this to restrain our curiosity, willing that we, in the matters spoken of in the Law and the Prophets, be content and inquire nothing beyond. Yet because the urgency of the curious does not desist, the doctors of sacred Scripture must determine many things which without loss of salvation might easily be passed over. — To be noted.

On account of which they respond to the said question and, in accord with the witness of reason and sense, say that the heaven has a spherical figure, and that this most befits it both by reason of simplicity, by reason of capaciousness, by reason of perfection, and by reason of mobility, as is clear to one who works it through. — Conclusion.

To the arguments on the contrary:

1. To that which is objected on the contrary from sacred Scripture, which says that the heaven is stretched out like a skin, or like a tent; it must be said that Scripture, condescending to the lowliness of the simple, often speaks in the common manner; and so, when it speaks of the heaven, it speaks of it according to what appears to our sense; and says that it is stretched after the manner of a skin, or of a tent, with respect to our hemisphere. — Resolution of the contrary arguments.

2. To that which is objected, that the part of the lower hemisphere is not useful for human use; it must be said that this is false, on the contrary it is necessary, if the heaven is to revolve circularly above us; and one part serves us by day, the other serves by night.

3. To that which is objected, that the heavens are most solidly firmed; it must be said that that firmness does not exclude every mobility, but only that by which something is moved upwards and downwards according to straight motion; whence the heaven is called firm, because it is not moved as to place. Nevertheless it is also mobile, since it is moved around place, or in place; and to such a disposition the spherical figure befits more than any other¹².

4. To that which is asked, how the empyrean, if it is circular, will be filled on every side with the bodies of the Saints; it must be said that, although it is not certain in what manner and by what mode the Saints are located there; nevertheless, in whichever way it is said, whether that they are in one semicircle of the empyrean¹³, or that they are in the whole, nothing prevents either being posited. For if they are in the whole, they will have a power of vision so potent that they will be able to see Christ wherever he may be. But if they are in the middle part of the heaven, the other is neither empty nor superfluous, just as a great palace is not empty, when there is one great inhabitant, although he does not fill every part. For the greatness and spaciousness of the court, even if it is not totally filled, nevertheless serves to manifest royal magnificence. But this we shall know better when we shall see. — To be noted.