Questio de aqua et terra (1-9)

(1) [DE FORMA ET SITU DUORUM ELEMENTORUM AQUE VIDELICET ET TERRE] Universis et singulis presentes litteras inspecturis, Dantes Alagherii de Florentia inter vere phylosophantes minimus, in Eo salutem qui est principium veritatis et lumen. (1) To all and singular who shall inspect these presents, Dante Aligheri of Florence, least amongst true students of philosophy, giveth greeting, in Him who is the beginning of truth and the light.
(2) [I]. Manifestum sit omnibus vobis quod, existente me Mantue, questio quedam exorta est, que dilatrata multotiens ad apparentiam magis quam ad veritatem, indeterminata restabat. (2) Be it known to you all that when I was in Mantua a certain discussion arose, which, following the appearance rather than truth, received manifold expansion, but remained undecided.
(3) Unde cum in amore veritatis a pueritia mea continue sim nutritus, non sustinui questionem prefatam linquere indiscussam; sed placuit de ipsa verum ostendere, nec non argumenta facta contra dissolvere, tum veritatis amore, tum etiam odio falsitatis. Et ne livor multorum, qui absentibus viris invidiosis mendacia confingere solent, post tergum bene dicta transmutent, placuit insuper in hac cedula meis digitis exarata quod determinatum fuit a me relinquere, et formam totius disputationis calamo designare. (3) Wherefore since I have been nurtured from my boyhood in the love of truth, I could not endure to abstain from discussing the aforesaid question, but determined to demonstrate the truth about it, and further to refute the arguments urged on the other side, in equal love of truth and hatred of falsehood. And lest the spleen of the many who are wont to foist lies, in their absence, upon those they hate, should pervert, behind my back, what I had rightly uttered, it was my further pleasure, in this attestation prepared by my own fingers, to leave a record of my conclusion, and to design with my pen the form of this whole disputation.
(4) [II]. Questio igitur fuit de situ et figura sive forma duorum elementorum, aque videlicet et terre; et voco hic 'formam' illam quam Phylosophus ponit in quarta specie qualitatis in Predicamentis. (4) The question, then, turned on the position and shape, or form, of two elements, water, to wit, and earth; and what I here mean by form is what the Philosopher puts down as the fourth kind of 'quality' in the Predicaments.
(5) Et restricta fuit questio ad hoc, tanquam ad principium investigande veritatis, ut quereretur utrum aqua in spera sua, hoc est in sua naturali circumferentia, in aliqua parte esset altior terra que emergit ab aquis et quam comuniter quartam habitabilem appellamus. (5) And the discussion was limited to this inquiry (as the principle of the truth to be investigated) 'Whether water, in its own sphere, that is in its natural circumference, was in any part higher than the earth which emerges from the waters, and which we commonly call the habitable quarter.'
(6) Et arguebatur quod sic multis rationibus, quarum, quibusdam omissis propter earum levitatem, quinque retinui que aliquam efficaciam habere videbantur. (6) And it was argued on the affirmative, for many reasons; some of which reasons were so insignificant that I passed them by, but five I retained as having some apparent validity.
(7) [III]. Prima fuit talis: Duarum circumferentiarum inequaliter a se distantium impossibile est idem esse centrum: circumferentia aque et circumferentia terre inequaliter distant; ergo etc. Deinde procedebatur: Cum centrum terre sit centrum universi, ut ab omnibus confirmatur; et omne quod habet positionem in mundo aliam ab eo, sit altius; quod circumferentia aque sit altior circumferentia terre concludebatur, cum circumferentia sequatur undique ipsum centrum. (7) The first argument ran thus: Two circumferences, which are not uniformly distant from each other, cannot have a common centre. The circumference of water and the circumference of earth are not uniformly distant. Therefore, etc. Then it went on: Since the centre of earth, as all admit, is the centre of the universe; and anything that has a position in the world other than it, is higher than it; we must conclude that the circumference of water is higher than the circumference of earth, since the circumference corresponds to the centre all round.
(8) Maior principalis sillogismi videbatur patere per ea que demonstrata sunt in geometria; minor per sensum, eo quod videmus in aliqua parte terre circumferentiam includi a circumferentia aque, in aliqua vero excludi. (8) The major premise of the chief syllogism appeared to be manifest from the theories demonstrated in geometry, the minor by the evidence of the senses, because we see that in some places the circumference of earth is included in the circumference of water and in some places excluded.
(9) [IV]. Secunda ratio erat: Nobiliori corpori debetur nobilior locus: aqua est nobilius corpus quam terra; ergo aque debetur nobilior locus. Et cum locus tanto sit nobilior quanto superior propter magis propinquare nobilissimo continenti quod est celum primum, relinquitur quod locus aque sit altior loco terre et per consequens quod aqua sit altior terra, cum situs loci et locati non differat. (9) Second argument: To the nobler body the nobler place is due. Water is a nobler body than earth, therefore the nobler place is due to water. And since place is nobler in proportion as it is higher, because it is nearer to the most noble envelope, which is the first heaven; therefore, etc. It remains that the place of water is loftier than the place of earth, and secondly that water is loftier than earth, since the position of the place and of the thing placed is identical.