And at that I was staring in astonishment, so that when I had returned to myself I said, "What is this by which sweet sounds—so great and so many—fill my ears?"
"This is," he said, "that which the joining together of intervals unequal, but nevertheless rationally distinct, effect by the pushing together and motion of the spheres themselves, and the high-pitched tones tempering uniformly, with the various low-pitched tones bringing about a harmonious sound. Indeed, such great movements cannot be silent, and nature allows this so that, from those weightier ones and from the higher ones also, the extremes might speak forth. On account of which reason, that light, star-bearing course of the heavens—the turns of which are rapid—is moved to make high and rousing noise; also, the lowest and deepest come from that of the moon. For the ninth, the earth remaining unmoved stays fixed in its one dwelling, the earth's central place having been encircled. Also, those eight courses, two of which have the same tone, bring about sounds of seven distinct intervals, that number which is nearly the node of all things. Learned mean—having reproduced this by string and song—disclose to themselves the return to this place, just as others who have pursued studies in those divine things which surpass the limits of human life."
Quae cum intuerer stupens, ut me recepi, "Quid hic?" inquam, "quis est, qui complet aures, tantus et tam dulcis sonus?"
"Hic est," inquit, "ille, qui intervallis disiunctus imparibus, sed tamen pro rata parte distinctis, impulsu et motu ipsorum orbium efficitur et acuta cum gravibus temperans varios aequabiliter concentus efficit; nec enim silentio tanti motus incitari possunt, et natura fert, ut extrema ex altera parte graviter, ex altera autem acute sonent. Quam ob causam summus ille caeli stellifer cursus, cuius conversio est concitatior, acuto et excitato movetur sono, gravissimo autem hic lunaris atque infimus; nam terra nona immobilis manens una sede semper haeret complexa medium mundi locum. Illi autem octo cursus, in quibus eadem vis est duorum, septem efficiunt distinctos intervallis sonos, qui numerus rerum omnium fere nodus est; quod docti homines nervis imitati atque cantibus aperuerunt sibi reditum in hunc locum, sicut alii, qui praestantibus ingeniis in vita humana divina studia coluerunt."
And at that I was staring in astonishment, so that when I had returned to myself I said, "What is this by which sweet sounds—so great and so many—fill my ears?"
"This is," he said, "that which the joining together of intervals unequal, but nevertheless rationally distinct, effect by the pushing together and motion of the spheres themselves, and the high-pitched tones tempering uniformly, with the various low-pitched tones bringing about a harmonious sound. Indeed, such great movements cannot be silent, and nature allows this so that, from those weightier ones and from the higher ones also, the extremes might speak forth. On account of which reason, that light, star-bearing course of the heavens—the turns of which are rapid—is moved to make high and rousing noise; also, the lowest and deepest come from that of the moon. For the ninth, the earth remaining unmoved stays fixed in its one dwelling, the earth's central place having been encircled. Also, those eight courses, two of which have the same tone, bring about sounds of seven distinct intervals, that number which is nearly the node of all things. Learned mean—having reproduced this by string and song—disclose to themselves the return to this place, just as others who have pursued studies in those divine things which surpass the limits of human life."
Quae cum intuerer stupens, ut me recepi, "Quid hic?" inquam, "quis est, qui complet aures, tantus et tam dulcis sonus?"
"Hic est," inquit, "ille, qui intervallis disiunctus imparibus, sed tamen pro rata parte distinctis, impulsu et motu ipsorum orbium efficitur et acuta cum gravibus temperans varios aequabiliter concentus efficit; nec enim silentio tanti motus incitari possunt, et natura fert, ut extrema ex altera parte graviter, ex altera autem acute sonent. Quam ob causam summus ille caeli stellifer cursus, cuius conversio est concitatior, acuto et excitato movetur sono, gravissimo autem hic lunaris atque infimus; nam terra nona immobilis manens una sede semper haeret complexa medium mundi locum. Illi autem octo cursus, in quibus eadem vis est duorum, septem efficiunt distinctos intervallis sonos, qui numerus rerum omnium fere nodus est; quod docti homines nervis imitati atque cantibus aperuerunt sibi reditum in hunc locum, sicut alii, qui praestantibus ingeniis in vita humana divina studia coluerunt."