CHAPTER 14

What man ought also to consider in order to know what his own soul is worth and to make no mistake regarding this point, is what has been made clear concerning the dimensions of the spheres and of the stars and the measures of the distances separating us from them. For [27a] the measures of all the distances with reference to half the diameter of the earth having been made clear and the dimensions of the diameter of the earth and consequently those of its half diameter being known, all the distances are known. Accordingly it has been demonstrated that the distance between the center of the earth and the highest part of the sphere of Saturn is one that could be covered in approximately eight thousand and seven hundred years of three hundred sixty-five days each, if each day a distance is covered of forty of our legal miles, of which each has two thousand of the cubits used for working purposes. Consider this great and terrifying distance. It conforms to what is said: Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the topmost of the stars, how high they are!¹ This means: can you not draw from the height of heaven a conclusion as to the remoteness of the apprehension of the deity? For if we are at such an extreme remoteness from that body, which in point of place is so far away from us, so that its substance and most of its actions are hidden from us, this applies all the more to the apprehension of its maker, who is not a body. This great distance that has been demonstrated is only a minimum. It is not possible that the distance between the center of the earth and the concavity of the sphere of the fixed stars should be less than that measure, but it is possible that it be many times greater. For the thickness of the bodies of the spheres has only been demonstrated with respect to its minimum possible dimensions, as is made clear in the Epistles concerning distances. Similarly it is impossible to determine exactly the thickness of the bodies that, according to Thābit,2 reasoning forces us to admit between every two spheres. For in these bodies there are no stars from which an inference can be drawn. As for the sphere of the fixed stars, its minimum thickness is equal to the distance that can be covered in [27b] four years. This is known from the measure of some³ of its stars, the body of each of these stars being ninety-odd times as great as that of the terrestrial globe. It is, however, possible that the thickness of their body⁴ is even greater. As for the ninth sphere, which causes the universe⁵ to accomplish the diurnal motion, its dimension is not known at all; for no star is to be found in it, and consequently we have no device enabling us to know its size. Consider how vast are the dimensions and how great the number of these corporeal beings. If the whole of the earth would not constitute even the smallest part of the sphere of the fixed stars, what is the relation of the human species to all these created things, and how can one of us imagine that they exist for his sake and because of him and that they are instruments for his benefit?

This is the state of things when the bodies are compared. How then would things look if you consider the existence of the intellects? Sometimes doubts are expressed concerning the opinion of the philosophers in this matter. It is said: If we claimed that the final end of the spheres consists in the governance of, for instance, a human individual or of several individuals, this would be impossible according to philosophic speculation. However inasmuch as we think that their final end consists in the governance of the human species, there is no absurdity in thinking that the final end of these great individual bodies is the existence of the individuals of the various species, the number of which individuals cannot — according to their doctrine — ever have an end. This would resemble the case of the artisan who has iron tools weighing one hundred-weight in order to manufacture a small needle weighing one grain. If this were done for the sake of one needle, this would have been bad management from the point of view of a certain speculation, even though not in an absolute sense. But in view of the fact that with the help of these heavy tools he manufactures one needle after another [28a] and thus several hundred-weights of needles, the making of these tools is in all respects an act of wisdom and of good management. Similarly the final end of the spheres consists in the continuance of coming-to-be and passing-away; and the final end of coming-to-be and passing-away consists, as has already been said, in the existence of the human species. We can find texts and traditions that support this imagining.

However, the philosopher will resolve the doubt by saying: If the difference between the bodies of the spheres and the individuals belonging to the species subject to generation and corruption had only consisted in their respective bigness and smallness, this objection would be possible. However, seeing the difference there is between them concerning the nobleness of substance, it would have been most disgraceful if what is nobler served as an instrument for the existence of what is most base and vile.

To sum up: This doubt may be called upon to help us in our belief concerning the production of the world in time, which notion was my main object in this chapter. Besides there is the fact that I have always heard from all those who had some smattering of the science of astronomy, that what the Sages, may their memory be blessed, have said regarding distances6 was exaggerated. For they have clearly stated that the thickness of every sphere equals a distance that can be covered in five hundred years and that the distance between every two spheres can only be covered in five hundred years.⁷ There are seven spheres in all;⁸ consequently the distance of the seventh sphere, I mean its convex part, from the center of the earth can only be covered in seven thousand years. Whoever hears this must imagine that in these words there is great exaggeration and that the distance does not reach this measure. However, from what has been demonstrated with regard to distances, it has become clear to you that the distance between the center of the earth and the lower part of the sphere of Saturn, which is the seventh sphere, can only be covered in approximately seven thousand and twenty-four years. As for the distance mentioned by us, which can only be covered in eight thousand seven hundred years, it [28b] goes up to the concavity of the eighth sphere. When you find that [the Sages] say that between every two spheres there is such and such a distance, this refers to the thickness of the body found between the spheres and does not mean that there is a vacuum there.

Do not ask of me to show that everything they have said concerning astronomical matters conforms to the way things really are. For at that time mathematics were imperfect. They did not speak about this as transmitters of dicta of the prophets, but rather because in those times they were men of knowledge in these fields or because they had heard these dicta from the men of knowledge who lived in those times. Because of this I will not say with regard to dicta of theirs, which, as we find, corresponds to the truth, that they are incorrect or have been said fortuitously. For whenever it is possible to interpret the words of an individual in such a manner that they conform to a being whose existence has been demonstrated, this is the conduct that is most fitting and most suitable for an equitable man of excellent nature.