advance in the book before us. In order, however, that both the
learned and the unlearned may see that I fear no man's judgment,
I wanted to dedicate these, my night labors, to your holiness,
rather than to any one else, because you, even in this remote
corner of the earth where I live, are held to be the greatest in
dignity of station and in love for all sciences and for
mathematics, so that you, through your position and judgment, can
easily suppress the bites of slanderers, although the proverb
says that there is no remedy against the bite of calumny."


In chapter X. of book I., "On the Order of the Spheres," occurs a
more detailed presentation of the system, as follows:

"That which Martianus Capella, and a few other Latins, very well
knew, appears to me extremely noteworthy. He believed that Venus
and Mercury revolve about the sun as their centre and that they
cannot go farther away from it than the circles of their orbits
permit, since they do not revolve about the earth like the other
planets. According to this theory, then, Mercury's orbit would be
included within that of Venus, which is more than twice as great,
and would find room enough within it for its revolution.

"If, acting upon this supposition, we connect Saturn, Jupiter,
and Mars with the same centre, keeping in mind the greater extent
of their orbits, which include the earth's sphere besides those
of Mercury and Venus, we cannot fail to see the explanation of
the regular order of their motions. He is certain that Saturn,
Jupiter, and Mars are always nearest the earth when they rise in
the evening--that is, when they appear over against the sun, or