This is doubtless quoted from some gloss upon Ptolemy, not from the work itself. The reference is right, for the 'motus celi' are discussed in the Almagest, lib. i. c. 8.

[73]

This star (α Arietis) was on the supposed horn of the Ram, and hence its name; since El-nâtih signifies 'the butter,' and 'El-nath' is 'butting' or 'pushing.' See Ideler, Die Bedeutung der Sternnamen, p. 135.

[74]

Well expressed by Dante, Parad, xxx. 38—

'Noi semo usciti fuore

Del maggior corpo al ciel ch'é pura luce.'

Dante, like Chaucer, makes the eighth sphere that of fixed stars, and the ninth the primum mobile or swiftest heaven (ciel velocissimo); Parad, xxvii. 99.

[75]

Here follows a table, shewing that, in Aries, the value of Saturn is 5, of Jupiter 5, &c.; with the values of the planets in all the other signs. The value 5, of Saturn, is obtained by adding a triplicite (value 3) to a terme (value 2), these being the 'witnesses' of Saturne in Aries; and so on throughout.