Abstract
Just as, assuming that we were unable to approach the sea or touch it, but only had a view from afar, and had the information that it is bitter, undrinkable and salty water, if someone said that it supports in its depths many large animals of multifarious shapes and is full of beasts that use the water for all the ends that we use air, his statements would seem to us like a tissue of myths and marvels, such appears to be our relation to the Moon… when we disbelieve that any men dwell there. Those men would be much more amazed at the Earth… obscurely visible in moisture, mists and clouds to think that it engenders and nourishes animate beings which partake of motion, breath and warmth.
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Notes
- 1.
Plutarch (De Facie), 75. Stating the exact value of the stade used here is difficult; estimates vary between 157 and 185 m.
- 2.
Anti-Newtonians will not fail to point out that Newton’s great discovery was actually old hat; to viz., Huygens in his Cosmotheoros: “Plutarch in his Book of the Moon says that some of the Ancients were of opinion, that the reason of the Moon keeping her Orbit was, that the force of her Circular Motion was exactly equal to her Gravity, the one which pull’d her to, as much as the other forc’d off from the Center… Which Mr. Isaac Newton has more fully explained, with a great deals of pain and subtilty; and how from that cause proceeds the Ellipticity of the Orbs of the Planets, found out by Kepler.” (Huygens 1698, 158).
- 3.
Plutarch (De Facie), 51, see Note a. Strangely enough, that ripple explanation had already been expressed by Homer (Iliad, VII, 63–64). That Face in the Moon has a long history indeed.
- 4.
Plutarch (De Facie), 151. Unfortunately, Plutarch next weakens his case by adding unnecessary (and incorrect) explanations based on relative positions of Sun, Moon and Earth. There is no need to follow these; the important point is the correct deduction of roughness for the surface of the Moon.
- 5.
Copernicus (1543), p. 8. According to Santillana (1970), 263, this passage is the “sole source through which Copernicus learned of the existence of a “Copernican” system in antiquity.” However A. Koyré, in the Introduction to his own translation of De Revolutionibus (1998, Diderot Editions, Paris), states that “Copernicus knew Aristarchus of Samos (as we do) through Archimedes.”
- 6.
As recalled in the Notes, many texts in various languages are now available in fac-simile and a large number in world-processor form) from Gallica.bnf.fr, and other WEB sites. They are indicated by ∗ for Gallica, ° for Google Books and + for others.
Bibliography
As recalled in the Notes, many texts in various languages are now available in fac-simile and a large number in world-processor form) from Gallica.bnf.fr, and other WEB sites. They are indicated by ∗ for Gallica, ° for Google Books and + for others.
Ancient Authors
∗Copernicus, N. (1543) De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, +translation by E. Rosen (1978), Polish Scientific Publications, Warsaw. Other translation: Ch. Gl. Wallis (1962), Great Books of Western World (GBWW), Vol. 16.
∗Huygens, C. (1698) Cosmotheoros, Den Haag, A.Moetjens; °English translation (1698) as The Celestial Words Discover’d, Childe, London.
Historians and Modern Authors
Santillana, G. de (1970) The Origins of Scientific Thought, New American Library.
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Connes, P., Lequeux, J. (2020). Plutarch’s De Facie: The Moon Is Another Earth. In: Lequeux, J. (eds) History of the Plurality of Worlds. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41448-1_3
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