Pagina 473 di 1391

The spindle (which is of adamant) is fastened to the ends of the

chains which extend to the middle of the column of light-this

column is said to hold together the heaven; but whether it hangs

from the spindle, or is at right angles to it, is not explained.

The cylinder containing the orbits of the stars is almost as much

a symbol as the figure of Necessity turning the spindle;-for the

outermost rim is the sphere of the fixed stars, and nothing is

said about the intervals of space which divide the paths of the

stars in the heavens. The description is both a picture and an

orrery, and therefore is necessarily inconsistent with itself.

The column of light is not the Milky Way-which is neither

straight, nor like a rainbow-but the imaginary axis of the earth.

This is compared to the rainbow in respect not of form but of

colour, and not to the undergirders of a trireme, but to the

straight rope running from prow to stern in which the

undergirders meet.