[To face p. 248.
CLIMATE MAP, OF ABOUT a.d. 1110.
Reproduced by permission from Beazley’s “Dawn of Modern Geography.”
Of the influence of the heavens on the earth Ristoro has very much to say, from general statements such as that the spheres impress their influence on things of Earth, just as a seal impresses wax, down to details about the births of horses. If the moon is strong in Aries, and Aries is powerful, then, because the moon signifies white among the colours and Aries signifies the head, the horse will be born with a white mark on its head, and if the influence is very strong it will be a beautifully-shaped mark. Again and again he tells us about the various properties and “virtues” of the seven planets, but he does not omit to mention that the powers which move the planets and cause them to influence Earth are spirits, which we call Angels, and the philosophers call Intelligences. These have their several dwelling-places in the spheres, and the nobler their nature the higher is the sphere which they inhabit.
From these quotations the reader may judge of the general trend of the eight books comprised in La Composizione del Mondo colle sue Cagioni: we shall have occasion to refer to it again, by way of comparison and contrast, when dealing with Dante’s works in detail.
It is rather curious that there is no trace in Dante’s writings of acquaintance with the great Roger Bacon, or with Sacrobosco, especially as Brunetto Latini knew the former personally, and Cecco d’Ascoli wrote a commentary on the latter, but Dante may have known them, and also the works of Isidore and Bede, who are both mentioned in Par., x. 131, as well as other books which are now completely lost. Those we have described above would, however, be enough to supply him with all the astronomical data, except one, which we find in his writings. It is now time to examine these, and see what use he made in literature of the knowledge he possessed.