Book on the Universe

of the rise of the world mass to the size we observe. Therefore, the most subtle extremity of the prima materia first matter, stripped and purified of its corruptive accidents, was elevated into the mass of ten celestial spheres. The mass of the four elements remained, wrapped in corruptive accidents. Fire, being more subtle than itself in the elemental order by one part, air by two parts, water by three parts, and earth by four parts, were carried there, becoming more subtle, rare, thin, and purified.

And so, from the four elements, ten celestial spheres arose, which are not only like the form of the world, but each possesses motive intelligences. By their will, the influence of the individual heavens becomes unequal, from which arises the diversity of the world’s regions even within the same parallel. For under the same configuration of the heaven, India is most fertile, while Ethiopia is sandy and