Volume 1

Opus majus / edited, with introduction and analytical table by John Henry Bridges.

  • Roger Bacon
Date:
1897-1900]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Opus majus / edited, with introduction and analytical table by John Henry Bridges. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    576/608 (page 376)
    Outlines an astro- logical treatise. 376 OPERIS MAJORIS PARS QUARTA. Sclavonia est et forum Julii et circa partes Venetian]m sole- bant esse Illyrii. Et hae omnes nationes sunt inclusae inter brachium sancti Georgii, et mare magnum ab oriente ; et inter Danubium qui vocatur Hister in magna sui parte a septentrione; et inter mare Adriaticum a meridie. Distantia vero penes milliaria et dietas potest in aliquibus notari. Nam a Venetiis per littus maris sunt plus quam cccc milliaria usque ad Duracium. Deinde superius ascendendo usque ad Patras civitatem famosam sunt xl, a qua usque Corinthum lx, a qua usque ad Athenas xl, a qua usque Thebas xl, deinde usque Nigrum pontem xviii, a quo per mare usque Constantinopolim quingenti milliaria ; et a Nigro ponte usque Cretam insulam ccc milliaria. Deinde ex altera parte maris Adriatici, inter ipsum et mare quod ab Adriatico decurrit in Hispaniam, jacet tota Italia, et deinde Provincia, et tandem Hispania. Sed quia notae sunt, non oportet nunc plus de istis regionibus dici. Haec igitur est historia, quam volui hic texere secundum experientiam naturalium et itinerantium de locis et gentibus totius habitabilis, usquequo Vestra Reverentia requirat princi- palem scripturam h Post locorum descriptionem deberent sequi alia quatuor, scilicet certificatio naturarum stellarum fixarum et planetarum, ut certior haberetur per haec certitudo complexionum omnium locorum et rerum locatarum, quatenus posset fieri judicium de praesentibus, praeteritis, et futuris, ut tandem fierent, quinto 1 2, opera quae promoverent omnia rei publicae utilia et nociva excluderent. Sed cum non potui propter impedimenta 1 ‘ Usquequo . .. scripturam ’ omitted in C. C. C. (Cambridge) MSS. In O. are the words : ‘ Finitur quarta pars majoris operis.’ Nevertheless the MS. proceeds to the astrological section that follows, and indeed divides this section into chapters as though it were a distinct treatise. The reference to principalem scripturam, so often spoken of before, will be noted. 2 The four previous points are (a) the nature of the zodiacal signs ; (b) of the planets ; (c) the influence of each over places and things ; (d) judgement as to past and future events founded on these facts.