Archimedes Texts

SIMPL. It is so; and I have oftentimes wish'd that the Air
would grow thicker, that I might be able to see that same light
more plainly; but it ever disappeared before dark night.

SALV. You know then very certainly, that in the depth of
night, that light would be more conspicuous.

SIMPL. I do so; and also more than that, if one could but
take away the great light of the crescent illuminated by the Sun,
the presence of which much obscureth the other lesser.

SALV. Why, doth it not sometimes come to pass, that one may
in a very dark night see the whole face of the Moon, without be
ing at all illuminated by the Sun?

SIMPL. I know not whether this ever happeneth, save onely
in the total Ecclipses of the Moon.

SALV. Why, at that time this its light would appear very
clear, being in a most obscure medium, and not darkned by the
clarity of the luminous crescents: but in that position, how light
did it appear to you?

SIMPL. I have sometimes seen it of the colour of brass, and a
little whitish; but at other times it hath been so obscure, that I
have wholly lost the sight of it.

SALV. How then can that light be so natural, which you see so
cleer in the close of the twilight, notwithstanding the impediment
of the great and contiguous splendor of the crescents; and which
again, in the more obscure time of night, all other light removed,
appears not at all?

SIMPL. I have heard of some that believed that same light to
be participated to these crescents from the other Stars, and in par
ticular from Venus, the Moons neighbour.

SALV. And this likewise is a vanity; because in the time of
its total obscuration, it ought to appear more shining than ever;
for you cannot say, that the shadow of the Earth intercepts the
sight of Venus, or the other Stars. But to say true, it is not at
that instant wholly deprived thereof, for that the Terrestrial He
misphere, which in that time looketh towards the Moon, is that
where it is night, that is, an intire privation of the light of the Sun.
And if you but diligently observe, you will very sensibly perceive,
that like as the Moon, when it is sharp-horned, doth give very little
light to the Earth; and according as in her the parts illumi
nated by the Suns light do encrease: so likewise the splendor to
our seeming encreaseth, which from her is reflected towards us;
thus the Moon, whilst it is sharp-forked, and that by being between
the Sun and the Earth, it discovereth a very great part of the Ter

restrial Hemisphere illuminated, appeareth very clear: and depart
ing from the Sun, and passing towards the ^{*}Quadrature, you
may see the said light by degrees to grow dim; and after the