Pars 2, Cap. 4
Breviloquium · Pars II: De creatura mundi
Capitulum IV. De natura corporali quantum ad operari et influere.
Quantum vero ad operari hoc tenendum est de natura corporea, scilicet quod caelestia influunt in terrestria et elementaria quantum ad distinctivam significationem temporum, scilicet dierum, mensium et annorum. Sic enim dicit Scriptura4, quod sint in signa et tempora et dies et annos. — Influunt etiam quantum ad effectivam productionem rerum generabilium et corruptibilium, scilicet mineralium, vegetabilium, sensibilium et corporum humanorum. — Sic tamen sunt in signa temporum et regimen operationum, ut non sint certa signa futurorum contingentium nec influant super liberum arbitrium per vim constellationum, quam dixerunt aliqui philosophi esse fatum.
Ratio autem ad intelligentiam praedictorum haec est: quia, cum in corporibus caelestibus propter proximitatem ad primum principium sit lux, motus, calor et virtus — lux ratione suae formae et speciei, motus respectu superioris influentis, calor respectu inferioris naturae suscipientis, virtus vero omnibus modis praedictis — cum, inquam, ita sit, caelestia corpora per lumen et motum sunt in distinctiones temporum, scilicet diei, secundum lucem solis et motum firmamenti; mensis, secundum motum lunae in circulo obliquo5; anni, secundum motum solis in eodem circulo; temporum vero, secundum varium planetarum motum, distantiam et concursum, ascensum et descensum, retrogradationem et statum, ex quibus oritur diversitas in temporibus.
Per virtutem autem et calorem influunt ad productionem eorum quae ex elementis generantur, excitando, promovendo, conciliando; ita quod secundum conciliationem contrariorum ab aequalitate remotam influunt in mineralia; secundum conciliationem ab aequalitate minus longinquam, in vegetabilia; secundum conciliationem aequalitati proximantem, in sensibilia; secundum vero conciliationem aequalem, in corpora humana, quae disposita sunt ad nobilissimam formam, quae est anima rationalis6; ad quam ordinatur et terminatur appetitus omnis naturae sensibilis et corporalis, ut per eam quae est forma, ens, vivens, sentiens et intelligens, quasi ad modum circuli intelligibilis reducatur ad suum principium, in quo perficiatur et beatificetur7.
Et quoniam in illud tendit per liberum arbitrium, ideo quantum ad arbitrii libertatem praecellit omnem virtutem corporalem; ac per hoc cuncta nata sunt sibi servire, nihil autem sibi dominari habet nisi solus Deus, non fatum seu vis positionis siderum.
Et propterea indubitanter verum est, quod sumus1 finis omnium eorum quae sunt; et omnia corporalia facta sunt ad humanum obsequium, ut ex illis omnibus accendatur homo ad amandum et laudandum Factorem universorum, cuius providentia cuncta disponuntur. Haec igitur sensibilis corporalium machina est tanquam quaedam domus a summo opifice homini fabricata, donec ad domum veniat non manufactam in caelis2; ut, sicut anima modo ratione corporis et status meriti nunc est in terris, sic aliquando corpus ratione animae et status praemii sit in caelis.
Chapter IV. On corporeal nature as regards its operating and influencing.
Now as regards its operating, this is to be held concerning corporeal nature: namely, that the celestial bodies exert influence upon the terrestrial and elemental as regards the distinguishing signification of times, that is, of days, of months and of years. For thus Scripture says4, that they may be for signs and seasons and days and years. — They exert influence also as regards the effective production of things generable and corruptible, namely of minerals, vegetables, sentient things and human bodies. — Yet they are for signs of times and for the governance of operations in such a way that they are not certain signs of future contingents, nor do they exert influence upon free choice by a force of the constellations, which some philosophers have called fate.
Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: that since in the celestial bodies, on account of their nearness to the first principle, there is light, motion, heat and power — light by reason of their own form and species, motion in respect of the higher influencing [cause], heat in respect of the lower nature receiving [it], but power in all the foresaid ways — since, I say, it is so, the celestial bodies are, through light and motion, for the distinctions of times: namely of the day, according to the light of the sun and the motion of the firmament; of the month, according to the motion of the moon in the oblique circle5; of the year, according to the motion of the sun in the same circle; and of the seasons, according to the varied motion of the planets, their distance and conjunction, ascent and descent, retrogradation and station, from which arises the diversity in the seasons.
But through their power and heat they exert influence toward the production of those things which are generated out of the elements, by exciting, by furthering, by reconciling; in such a way that according to a reconciliation of contraries far removed from equality they influence minerals; according to a reconciliation less far from equality, vegetables; according to a reconciliation approaching equality, sentient things; but according to an equal reconciliation, human bodies, which are disposed toward the noblest form, which is the rational soul6; toward which the appetite of every sensible and corporeal nature is ordered and terminated, so that through it — which is form, being, living, sentient and understanding — the whole may, as it were after the manner of an intelligible circle, be led back to its own principle, in which it may be perfected and beatified7.
And since it tends toward that [principle] through free choice, therefore as regards the freedom of choice it surpasses every corporeal power; and through this all things are born to serve it, but nothing has dominion over it save God alone — not fate, nor the force of the position of the stars.
And therefore it is beyond doubt true that we are1 the end of all those things which are; and all corporeal things were made for man's service, so that out of them all man might be kindled to love and to praise the Maker of all things, by whose providence all things are disposed. This sensible machinery of corporeal things, therefore, is as it were a certain house fashioned for man by the supreme Artificer, until he come to the house not made by hands, in the heavens2; so that, just as the soul is now on earth by reason of the body and of the state of merit, so one day the body may be in heaven by reason of the soul and of the state of reward.
- 4Gen. 1, 14. — De seqq. cfr. II. Sent. d. 2. p. II. a. 1. q. 2. et d. 14. p. II. a. 2. q. 2. seq.Gen. 1:14. — On what follows compare II Sent. d. 2, p. II, a. 1, q. 2, and d. 14, p. II, a. 2, q. 2 f.
- 5Scil. in zodiaco (vel a ζῴδιον i. e. parvum animal, eo quod signa zodiaci plerumque figuris exprimuntur animalium; vel a ζωή i. e. vita, quasi secundum motum planetarum in isto circulo in sublunaribus sit omnis vita). Vide II. Sent. d. 14. p. II. dub. 4. — Pro mensis L mensium.That is, in the zodiac (either from ζῴδιον, i.e. small animal, because the signs of the zodiac are for the most part expressed by figures of animals; or from ζωή, i.e. life, since according to the motion of the planets in that circle all life in sublunary things subsists). See II Sent. d. 14, p. II, dub. 4. — For mensis L [reads] mensium.
- 6Cfr. II. Sent. d. 15. a. 1. q. 3. et d. 17. a. 2. q. 2. seq. — Superius voci contrariorum K praemittit elementorum (vide cap. praeced.).Compare II Sent. d. 15, a. 1, q. 3, and d. 17, a. 2, q. 2 f. — Above, to the word contrariorum K prefixes elementorum (see the preceding chapter).
- 7Cfr. Rom. 8, 19. seqq., et tom. II. pag. 421, nota 4.Compare Rom. 8:19 ff., and vol. II, p. 421, note 4.
- 1B addit quodam modo. Aristot., II. Phys. text. 24. (c. 2.): Sumus enim quodam modo et nos finis. Cfr. II. Sent. d. 15. a. 2. q. 1. et d. 16. a. 1. q. 1. in corp. — Superius pro virtutem P creaturam. Inferius pro cuncta fere omnes codd. et 2 minus congrue cetera.B adds quodam modo. Aristotle, II Physics, text 24 (c. 2): For we too are in a certain manner an end. Compare II Sent. d. 15, a. 2, q. 1, and d. 16, a. 1, q. 1 in the body. — Above, for virtutem P [reads] creaturam. Below, for cuncta nearly all the codices and edition 2 less fittingly [read] cetera.
- 2Epist. II. Cor. 5, 1: Domum non manufactam, aeternam in caelis. — Mox L V omittunt modo, S autem nunc. — In fine capituli A praebet longius additamentum, quod etiam in cod. 671. monasterii Admontensis et in cod. CXLII. monasterii Lambacensis (in Austria) invenitur. Comparatione horum codd. instituta, vitia uniuscuiusque cod. propria a nobis emendata sunt, et sequens textus formatus: Influentia a corporibus in haec inferiora est per naturam lucis; fit autem multipliciter: aut enim influunt corpora superiora alterando tantum per naturam luminis et splendoris, ut in corporibus diaphanis est lumen in habitu et non in actu, fulgor autem completae irradiationis participatur ab influentia, ut luna splendorem habet ab aspectu solis. Aut influunt alterando per naturam luminis et caloris, ut in corporibus diaphanis sub suo toto actu non completis, sed possibilibus ad alios actus, sicut fit alteratio caloris et splendoris in elementis superioribus, ignis scilicet et aeris. Aut influunt per naturam caloris tantum, ut in corporibus opacis, sicut in terra et aqua per reflexionem radiorum ad terrenam soliditatem per angulos aequales, ex qua reflexione causatur diversitas caloris in diversis temporibus. Quarto modo influunt per naturam caloris et luminis deferentis virtutem spiritualem; et haec influentia diversificatur secundum diversos situs terrarum et secundum diversum aspectum planetarum et secundum cursum solis in zodiaco circulo; et ab ista influentia causantur diversae impressiones in aëre, sicut venti, pluviae, nives, grandines, fulgura, tonitrua, colores iris, a sub descendens [cfr. tom. IV. pag. 979, nota 6.] et ascendens; et ab ista etiam influentia fit generatio mineralium in profundo terrae et generatio plantarum, quia horum omnium generatio fit per virtutem caelestem, incorporatam vapori, regentem operationem naturae ignis. Aut influunt per naturam luminis deferentis virtutem spiritualem, quae virtus occulte delata in lumine regit vegetationem in plantis et complet generationem in seminibus [Monac. et Lambac. sensibus]; complet etiam generationem hominis, quia, sicut expositor super II. Physicorum [ait], generans particulare relinquit generatum, antequam compleatur, generans vero universale, sicut sol et reliquae stellae, complet et supplet et perficit generationem. Unde in II. Phys. [text. 26. c. 2.]: « Sol et homo generant hominem ». Et in libro Vegetabilium: Per virtutem stellarum fit forma in materia (cfr. Aristot., II. de Plantis, c. 1. alias 4: Virtute stellarum scilicet [provenient] illorum seminum species; sed materia necessaria aqua est etc.). Item, Alfarabius: « Lux est virtus divina nobis deferens virtutem divinam fontis habens proprietatem ». Fontem igitur luminis invocemus, ut lucis suae radio mentis nostrae tenebras dissolvat et ab erroris nubilo nos reducat. — Haec explicatio illius partis, quae incipit: Per virtutem autem etc., spuria esse videtur.2 Cor. 5:1: A house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. — Just below, L V omit modo, and S [omits] nunc. — At the end of the chapter A offers a longer addition, which is also found in cod. 671 of the monastery of Admont and in cod. CXLII of the monastery of Lambach (in Austria). Having instituted a comparison of these codices, we have emended the faults proper to each codex, and the following text has been formed: Influence from the [celestial] bodies upon these lower things is through the nature of light; and it comes about in manifold ways: for either the higher bodies exert influence by altering only through the nature of light and splendour, as in diaphanous bodies light is present in habit and not in act, while the brightness of complete irradiation is participated from the influence, as the moon has its splendour from the aspect of the sun. Or they exert influence by altering through the nature of light and heat, as in diaphanous bodies not completed under their whole act but capable of further acts, as the alteration of heat and splendour comes about in the higher elements, namely of fire and of air. Or they exert influence through the nature of heat only, as in opaque bodies, as in earth and water by the reflection of rays at equal angles upon the solidity of earth, from which reflection is caused the diversity of heat at different times. In a fourth way they exert influence through the nature of heat and of light bearing a spiritual power; and this influence is diversified according to the different situations of lands, and according to the different aspect of the planets, and according to the course of the sun in the zodiacal circle; and from that influence are caused the various impressions in the air, such as winds, rains, snows, hail, lightnings, thunders, the colours of the rainbow, [vapour] descending from beneath [compare vol. IV, p. 979, note 6] and ascending; and from that influence also comes about the generation of minerals in the depth of the earth and the generation of plants, since the generation of all these comes about through a celestial power incorporated into vapour, governing the operation of the nature of fire. Or they exert influence through the nature of light bearing a spiritual power, which power, borne hiddenly in the light, governs vegetation in plants and completes generation in seeds [Munich and Lambach: in the senses]; it completes also the generation of man, because, as the commentator on II Physics [says], a particular generator leaves what is generated before it is completed, whereas the universal generator, such as the sun and the remaining stars, completes and supplies and perfects the generation. Whence in II Physics [text 26, c. 2]: « The sun and man generate man ». And in the book On Plants: Through the power of the stars form comes to be in matter (compare Aristotle, II On Plants, c. 1, elsewhere 4: By the power of the stars, namely, [there will come forth] the species of those seeds; but the necessary matter is water, etc.). Likewise Alfarabi: « Light is a divine power bearing to us a divine power, having the property of a fount ». Let us therefore call upon the Fount of light, that by the ray of his own light he may dissolve the darkness of our mind and lead us back from the cloud of error. — This explanation of that part which begins Per virtutem autem etc. appears to be spurious.