Lactantius: why the earth is not round.

It is nonsense to think that the idea of a flat earth was refuted by Columbus, when he tried to find a route to India through a western passage.  Still, the idea of a round earth was far from universally accepted and one of those who could not believe it was the Christian writer Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325). His major work is the Institutiones Divinae, an apology for Christianity. In book three he is trying to show that the idea of a round world is nonsense. There were indeed weaknesses in the arguments defending a round world. The idea was – at least that described and refuted by Lactantius – that the world was a steady ball in the centre of a round universe and that sun, moon and stars are revolving around the earth. It is as if the earth is at the centre inside a football and that this ball turning around us and we are looking at the inside on which stars, sun and moon are painted. The mathematical problems of explaining all the motions with the assumption that the earth itself is steady at the centre are unsurmountable. We may laugh now at the way Lactantius is defending a flat earth, but suppose we were contemporaries, I wonder how many of us would not have been convinced by his arguments.

Lactantius. Institutiones Divinae, 3.24 : De antipodibus, de coelo ac sideribus.

1)            Quid illi, qui esse contrarios vestigiis nostris Antipodas putant, num aliquid loquuntur? aut est quisquam tam ineptus, qui credat esse homines, quorum vestigia sint superiora, quam capita? aut ibi, quae apud nos iacent, inversa pendere? fruges et arbores deorsum versus crescere? pluvias, et nives, et grandinem sursum versus cadere in terram? Et miratur aliquis, hortos pensiles inter septem mira narrari, cum philosophi et agros, et maria, et urbes, et montes pensiles faciant? Huius quoque erroris aperienda nobis origo est. Nam semper eodem modo falluntur. Cum enim falsum aliquid in principio sumpserint, veri similitudine inducti, necesse est eos in ea, quae consequuntur, incurrere. Sic incidunt in multa ridicula; quia necesse est falsa esse, quae rebus falsis congruunt. Cum autem primis habuerint fidem, qualia sint ea, quae sequuntur, non circumspiciunt, sed defendunt omni modo; cum debeant prima illa, utrumne vera sint, an falsa, ex consequentibus iudicare.

vestigium: footprint

ineptus: silly

quae apud nos iacent, inversa pendere?: which are lying by us, are hanging upside down?  (e.g. a cloth on a table)

deorsum versus: downwards

nix nivis (f.): snow

grando grandinis (f.): hail

sursum versus: upwards

hortos pensiles: hanging gardens (of Babylon)

cum philosopi…faciant: when philosophers invent

aperienda nobis origo: the origin is to be uncovered by us

falluntur: go wrong

sumpserint: have assumed

veri similitudine inducti: having it put forward as truth

circumspiciunt: look carefully

2             Quae igitur illos ad Antipodas ratio perduxit? Videbant siderum cursus in occasum meantium; solem atque lunam in eamdem partem semper occidere, atque oriri semper ab eadem. Cum autem non perspicerent, quae machinatio cursus eorum temperaret, nec quomodo ab occasu ad orientem remearent, coelum autem ipsum in omnes partes putarent esse devexum, quod sic videri, propter immensam latitudinem necesse est: existimaverunt, rotundum esse mundum sicut pilam, et ex motu siderum opinati sunt coelum volvi, sic astra solemque, cum occiderint, volubilitate ipsa mundi ad ortum referri. Itaque et aereos orbes fabricati sunt, quasi ad figuram mundi, eosque caelarunt portentosis quibusdam simulacris, quae astra esse dicerent. Hanc igitur coeli rotunditatem illud sequebatur, ut terra in medio sinu eius esset inclusa. Quod si ita esset, etiam ipsam terram globo similem; neque enim fieri posset, ut non esset rotundum, quod rotundo conclusum teneretur. Si autem rotunda etiam terra esset, necesse esse, ut in omnes coeli partes eamdem faciem gerat, id est montes erigat, campos tendat, maria consternat. Quod si esset, etiam sequebatur illud extremum, ut nulla sit pars terrae, quae non ab hominibus caeterisque animalibus incolatur. Sic pendulos istos Antipodas coeli rotunditas adinvenit.

siderum cursus in occasum meantium: the course of the wandering start to the west

machinatio –onis (f.): mechanism

remeo: go again, return

devexus: shelving

pila: ball

opinati sunt coelum volvi:  they think that the sky is turning

volubilitate ipsa mundi: by just the vast motion of the universe (not `the world’!)

aereos orbes: indeed such mechanical devises depicting the universe in order to explain its motion have been discovered.

caelo: to engrave

portentosis quibusdam simulacris: some horrible images (Why horrible? Because they didn’t really look like stars? Or is it just derogatory?)

Hanc igitur coeli rotunditatem illud sequebatur: this followed from that roundness of the sky

in medio sinu: at the centre of the curved surface

ut non esset rotundum, quod rotundo conclusum teneretur: i.e. because the sky is round, the earth must be round too

ut in omnes coeli partes eamdem faciem gerat: that it has the same appearance  towards all part of the sky (But like the idea that the earth must be round because the sky is round, this idea too carries some aesthetic reasoning.)

erigo erexi erectum: to lift up

tendo tetendi tentum (tensum): to stretch out

consterno constravi constratum: to spread

pendulus: hanging down

3             Quod si quaeras ab iis, qui haec portenta defendunt, quomodo non cadunt omnia in inferiorem illam coeli partem; respondent, hanc rerum esse naturam, ut pondera in medium ferantur, et ad medium connexa sint omnia, sicut radios videmus in rota; quae autem levia sunt, ut nebula, fumus, ignis, a medio deferantur, ut coelum petant. Quid dicam de iis nescio, qui, cum semel aberraverint, constanter in stultitia perseverant, et vanis vana defendunt; nisi quod eos interdum puto, aut ioci causa philosophari, aut prudentes et scios mendacia defendenda suscipere, quasi ut ingenia sua in malis rebus exerceant, vel ostendant. At ego multis argumentis probare possem, nullo modo fieri posse, ut coelum terra sit inferius, nisi et liber iam concludendus esset, et adhuc aliqua restarent, quae magis sunt praesenti operi necessaria. Et quoniam singulorum errores percurrere non est unius libri opus, satis sit pauca enumerasse, ex quibus possit qualia sint caetera intelligi.

haec portenta: these horrible things

ut pondera in medium ferantur: that heavy things go to the centre (This idea comes from Aristotle and it explains gravity.)

radios in rota: spokes in a wheel

defero detuli delatum: go away from

peto: to seek, strive

semel: once

interdum: now and then

ioci causa: for fun

aut prudentes et scios mendacia defendenda suscipere: or clever and on purpose take up to defend lies

ingenia sua: their intelligence

ostendo ostendi ostentum: to show

nisi et liber (= chapter) iam concludendus esset: a very weak reason for not bringing forward arguments for a flat earth!

quoniam: whereas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactantius

Translated by William Fletcher. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7 (1886)

How is it with those who imagine that there are antipodes opposite to our footsteps? Do they say anything to the purpose? Or is there any one so senseless as to believe that there are men whose footsteps are higher than their heads? Or that the things which with us are in a recumbent position, with them hang in an inverted direction? That the crops and trees grow downwards? That the rains, and snow, and hail fall upwards to the earth? And does any one wonder that hanging gardens are mentioned among the seven wonders of the world, when philosophers make hanging fields, and seas, and cities, and mountains? The origin of this error must also be set forth by us. For they are always deceived in the same manner. For when they have assumed anything false in the commencement of their investigations, led by the resemblance of the truth, they necessarily fall into those things which are its consequences. Thus they fall into many ridiculous things; because those things which are in agreement with false things, must themselves be false. But since they placed confidence in the first, they do not consider the character of those things which follow, but defend them in every way; whereas they ought to judge from those which follow, whether the first are true or false.

What course of argument, therefore, led them to the idea of the antipodes? They saw the courses of the stars travelling towards the west; they saw that the sun and the moon always set towards the same quarter, and rise from the same. But since they did not perceive what contrivance regulated their courses, nor how they returned from the west to the east, but supposed that the heaven itself sloped downwards in every direction, which appearance it must present on account of its immense breadth, they thought that the world is round like a ball, and they fancied that the heaven revolves in accordance with the motion of the heavenly bodies; and thus that the stars and sun, when they have set, by the very rapidity of the motion of the world are borne back to the east. Therefore they both constructed brazen orbs, as though after the figure of the world, and engraved upon them certain monstrous images, which they said were constellations. It followed, therefore, from this rotundity of the heaven, that the earth was enclosed in the midst of its curved surface. But if this were so, the earth also itself must be like a globe; for that could not possibly be anything but round, which was held enclosed by that which was round. But if the earth also were round, it must necessarily happen that it should present the same appearance to all parts of the heaven; that is, that it should raise aloft mountains, extend plains, and have level seas. And if this were so, that last consequence also followed, that there would be no part of the earth uninhabited by men and the other animals. Thus the rotundity of the earth leads, in addition, to the invention of those suspended antipodes.

But if you inquire from those who defend these marvellous fictions, why all things do not fall into that lower part of the heaven, they reply that such is the nature of things, that heavy bodies are borne to the middle, and that they are all joined together towards the middle, as we see spokes in a wheel; but that the bodies which are light, as mist, smoke, and fire, are borne away from the middle, so as to seek the heaven. I am at a loss what to say respecting those who, when they have once erred, consistently persevere in their folly, and defend one vain thing by another; but that I sometimes imagine that they either discuss philosophy for the sake of a jest, or purposely and knowingly undertake to defend falsehoods, as if to exercise or display their talents on false subjects. But I should be able to prove by many arguments that it is impossible for the heaven to be lower than the earth, were it not that this book must now be concluded, and that some things still remain, which are more necessary for the present work. And since it is not the work of a single book to run over the errors of each individually, let it be sufficient to have enumerated a few, from which the nature of the others may be understood.

Lactantius: the glory of the Phoenix.

De Ave Phoenice is a poem of 170 lines in which the Phoenix is described. The Phoenix is a mythical bird who after a certain time dies in fire and arises out of its ashes again.  The poem is generally attributed to Lactantius (c. 240 – c. 320), a Christian apologist, but what has puzzled scholars is that there are no overt references to Christianity. Sure, the Phoenix was seen sometimes as a symbol for Christ and Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225 AD) considered it even as the proof for the possibility of resurrection, but no such suggestions are made in the poem. Lactantius did not come from a Christian family, but was converted in later life, after having been professor of rhetorica. It could be that this poem was his first writing as a Christian. It could also be that this poem was written for an occasion of which the details are lost, leaving us with a poem without context. But the very fact that little is known, has given rise to wide and wild speculations. I happen to read this poem now with a friend of mine and she found on internet interpretations as: " Female initiation rites and early Christian and pagan theories about menstruation, conception and birth" and: `Image of the paradisiacal garden as a symbol for Mary (and the church) and Mary herself, the solitary one in wait for the coming of the Lord – the Phoenix’ song and bliss at its flight to meet the sun,  as analogue to the Annunciation (where Mary accepts the angel’s invitation to do Gods will).  Thus where the sun knocks at the threshold of the shining gates, is a reference to the descent of the Logos into the womb of Mary.’ Hear, hear! Well, I won’t say that it is impossible, but sometimes scholars are very eager to read their own ideas into texts.

The De Ave Phoenice is also interesting for students of Old English, as it is the basis of an Old English poem with the same name. The first part is a translation and the second part a Christian meditation upon this text.

The poem starts with a description of a kind of paradise, far in the East, near the rising of the sun and after this the Phoenix is introduced:

Lactantius, De Ave Phoenice 31-50

hoc nemus, hos lucos avis incolit unica phoenix

     unica sed vivit morte refecta sua

paret et obsequitur Phoebo memoranda satelles

     hoc natura parens munus habere dedit.

lutea cum primum surgens aurora rubescit

     cum primum rosea sidera luce fugat.

ter quater illa pia immergit corpus in undas

     ter quater e vivo gurgite libat aquam

tollitur ac summo consedit in arboris altae

     vertice, quae totum despicit una nemus

et conversa novos Phoebi nascentis ad ortus

     expectat radios et iubar exoriens

atque ubi sol pepulit fulgentis lumina portae

     et primum emicuit luminis aura levis

incipit illa sacri modulamina fundere cantus

     et mira lucem voce ciere novam.

quam nec aedoniae voces nec tibia possit

     musica cyrrhaeis assimilare modis

sed neque olor moriens imitare nosse putatur

     nec cylleneae fila canora lyrae.

hoc nemus hos lucos: i.e. the wood and sacred groves in the mythical land where the Phoenix lives.

morte refecta sua:  renewed from her own death

Phoebus: the sun

satelles, satellitis ( f. and m.): servant, attendant

hoc munus habere dedit:  gave (her) this for having as duty

luteus: saffron, golden

gurgis gurgitis (m.): steam, whirlpool

tollitur: reflexive

libo: to sip

vertex verticis (m.): top

quae (arbor)

iubar iubaris (m.): radiance, brightness

pello pepuli pulsum: to strike knock

lumina portae: the threshold of garden where the phoenix lives

emico emicui emicatum: to break forth

sacri modulamina fundere cantus: to spread out the melody of a sacred song

cieo civi citum: to cause to go, stir

aedoniae voces: the voices of nightingales (the adjective aedonius is only found twice in Latin

tibia: flute

musica: adjective to tibia

cyrrhaeis modis: Cyrrha was a town in Phocis associated with Apollo (=  Phoebus). so it means `tunes associated with the sun’.

olor oloris (m.): swan (the swan, not a bird renown for its beautiful singing, was believed to sing beautifully when dying.)

cylleneae lyrae: Cyllena was a mountain in the north –east of Arcadia (I think this is the only place in Latin literature where this mountain is associated with a lyre .)

fila canora: harmonious strings

Translation by J.W. Duff and A.M. Duff (1934)

In this grove, in these woods, dwells the peerless

bird,the Phoenix, peerless, since she lives renewed

by her own death. An acolyte worthy of record,

she yields obedience and homage to Phoebus : such

the duty that parent Nature assigned to her for observ-

ance. Soon as saffron Aurora reddens at her rising,

soon as she routs the stars with rosy light, thrice

and again that bird plunges her body into the kindly

waves, thrice and again sips water from the living

flood. Soaring she settles on the topmost height of

a lofty tree which alone commands the whole of the

grove, and, turning towards the fresh rising of

Phoebus at his birth, awaits the emergence of his

radiant beam. And when the Sun has struck the

threshold of the gleaming portal and the light shaft

of his first radiance has flashed out, she begins to

pour forth notes of hallowed minstrelsy and to sum-

mon the new day in a marvellous key which neither

tune of nightingale nor musical pipe could rival in

Cirrhean  modes ; nay, let not the dying swan be

thought capable of imitating it, nor yet the tuneful

strings of Cyllcnean  lyre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_%28mythology%29

 

Phoenix in the flames (Aberdeen bestiary 12^th century.)