Breviloquium

Concerning corporeal nature as to being, these things are to be held: that the whole frame of the corporeal world consists in celestial and elementary nature, so that the celestial is distinguished into three principal heavens, namely the empyrean, the crystalline, and the firmament. — But within the firmament, which is the starry heaven, are contained the seven orbs of the seven planets, which are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. — But elementary nature is distinguished into four spheres, namely those of fire, air, water, and earth; and thus, proceeding from the highest pole of heaven to the center of the earth, ten celestial orbs and four elementary spheres are encountered; from these the whole frame of the sensible world is integrated and constituted distinctly, perfectly, and orderly.¹

The reason for understanding the foregoing is this: since corporeal nature, for its perfection and the expression of the manifold wisdom of the first principle, requires a multiplicity of forms, as appears in minerals, plants, and animals, it was necessary to posit certain simple bodies that could be mixed in manifold ways for the introduction of manifold forms; and such is the nature subject to contrariety, and this is the elementary nature. It was also necessary for a nature to come about through which these contraries could be reconciled in the mixture; and such is a nature removed from contrariety, of which sort are the nature of light and that of a supercelestial body.²

And since mixture cannot come about except through contraries acting and being acted upon, therefore it was necessary for a twofold contrariety to come about in the elements, namely as to the active qualities, which are hot and cold, and as to the passive qualities, which are moist and dry. And because each element acts and is acted upon, therefore it has two qualities, one active and the other passive, yet in such a way that one is principal and proper; and thereby there must be only four elements according to the four aforesaid qualities, combined in four ways.

But celestial nature is either uniform and immobile, and this is the empyrean, because it is pure light; or mobile and multiform, and thus the firmament; or mobile and uniform, and thus the middle heaven between the empyrean and the starry heaven,³ which is the crystalline heaven. But the fourth member, namely that it be multiform and immobile, cannot stand, because multiformity disposes to variety of motion, not to uniform rest.

There are therefore three heavens, of which the first is luminous throughout, namely the empyrean; the second is transparent throughout, namely the crystalline; the third is conjoined from both, namely the firmament. Since therefore there are three incorruptible heavens and four variable elements, so that due connection, concord, and correspondence might come about, God disposed the seven orbs of the planets, which by their variety of motions and incorruptibility of forms might be, as it were, a certain bond and joint between the lower elementary orbs and the higher celestial orbs, in order to perfect and adorn the universe; and the universe is said to be ordered and conjoined according to numerical proportions by the tenfold number of celestial orbs and the fourfold number of elements, these rendering it proportionally as beautiful as it is perfect and orderly, so that in its own way it may represent its principle.⁴