Foreword | |
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This second Ptolemaic undertaking was spurred on by the Reader, to whom we dedicate the present work, who, with a simple letter sent by e-mail, urged us to tackle the second book as well, then the third, and so on. How and why that letter induced us to change our mind, we frankly do not know: it was not, indeed, in our plans! Moreover, this second book, longer and in some ways more demanding than the first, put our meagre knowledge to the test. But Ptolemy's expository method is so engaging-as we wrote in the Foreword to the first book-that, having begun the translation, we were, so to say, captivated by his way of expounding the subject. Ptolemy was very likely an exceptional teacher: he takes you by the hand and accompanies you along the way, without ever leaving you alone; he explains everything calmly, gives clear examples, never boring or pedantic, but always attentive, so that you, the reader, do not lose heart. Even the most inexperienced but willing guy could without difficulty engage in it.
It is good reading for many astrologers, who, intent only on the books of “The
fulfilments,” seem content with translations, whose best comment is silence.
Repeating the concluding sentence of the Foreword to the first book, “we hope that, in spite of the very sad times, in which the annihilation of culture is being perpetrated, this work will be appreciated by those who are wary of being carried away by the media current of that moat, where one sees, to quote Dante, a people smothered in a filth / that out of human privies seemed to flow.”
As always, we will be grateful to those who will have the grace to point out inaccuracies
errors or otherwise.
Dorno, November 2023.
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Premiss | |
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The criteria followed in the drafting of this second book are the same as those illustrated in the Introduction to the first book, to which we refer our Reader. Particular care has been taken in the choice of drawings with the intention of making the reading of the demonstrations less vague; by the way, we cannot omit having taken more than one suggestions from the "Following Kepler" blog, which we recommend to all students, who need more detailed demonstrations than a translation, although annotated, can legitimately provide. In three cases, we have reproduced the drawings of the codices.
The Greek text is that of Heiberg. The only difference, compared to the first book, is that the numerals are distinguished by a horizontal line above the Greek letters, whereas in the first book we had opted for a stroke like an accent by the side of the letter(s). For the verification of the data, the ascension table was wholly checked using our formulas, while for that of the data contained in the “Tabular exposition by parallels of angles and arcs,” for the reasons explained in the Introductory Note to the Tables,” we proceeded at random.
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