61r

[rubric, in alternating red and blue letters, enclosed in penwork box tinted yellow: LIBER . SECUNDUS ⸫~]

DI te signor superno habian parlato
E di tuo cieli e di lor influentia
Quanto per gratia ci n’ai demostrato
[marginal rubric: Exordio] Or piacia a la benigna tua clementia
Monstraci li elimenti e lor stato
E le stagion de l’anno e lor sementia
Lor qualita e lor generationi
E di corpi mortali le complesioni

[rubric: Elementi.]

¶ Tu con mesure li elementi legi
Suo termine a ciascun hai stabilito
E l’un da l’altro chiaramente spegi
El fuoco e ’l primo nel piu alto sito
Non conceduto a lui che ’ngiu sp si piegi
Ma per natura quanto po e salito
La soa spera e sotto il cielo de la luna
E qui non a in si mistura alcuna

[rubric: Fuocho]

¶ La vista humana veder non poterebbe
Perche viepiu che l’aria egli e purissimo
Ma chi vi s’apressa si sentirebbe
El caldo suo chocente e ardentissimo
Ogni cossa legier vi passarebbe
Sença violentia perche -e- sotilissimo
Poi sotto lui e la spera de l’aria
La qual -e- molto in suo termine varia

[initial: Opening initial /D/, 3 lines, in blue with red pen flourishing.]

BOOK TWO

Of you, Highest Lord, we spoke,
and of your heavens and their influence—
as much [of them] as you have shown us by your grace.
{Preamble} Now let your kind benevolence
show us the elements and their nature,
the seasons of the year and what they sow,
their qualities, and what they reap,
and the complexions of living bodies.^{*In medieval medical theory, a body's "complexion" was the combination of hot, cold, moist, and dry qualities that determined a person's temperament or personality.}***

{[Elements]}

You bind the elements in measure,
You established a limit for each,
and you clearly distinguish one from the other.
The fire is the first, in the highest position,
not attainable by he who is bent down
but by nature, it has ascended as high as possible
Its sphere is under the sphere of the moon
and here, there is no commingling of them.

{[Fire]}

Human sight would not be able to look upon it
because far more than air, it is extremely pure
but one who moves close to it would feel
its burning and fiery heat.
Everything would pass through easily
without effort because it [fire] is very thin.
Then under it, is the sphere of the air
which is, within its boundaries, quite variable.

[rubric, in alternating red and blue letters, enclosed in penwork box tinted yellow: LIBER . SECUNDUS ⸫~]

DI te signor superno habian parlato
E di tuo cieli e di lor influentia
Quanto per gratia ci n’ai demostrato
[marginal rubric: Exordio] Or piacia a la benigna tua clementia
Monstraci li elimenti e lor stato
E le stagion de l’anno e lor sementia
Lor qualita e lor generationi
E di corpi mortali le complesioni

[rubric: Elementi.]

¶ Tu con mesure li elementi legi
Suo termine a ciascun hai stabilito
E l’un da l’altro chiaramente spegi
El fuoco e ’l primo nel piu alto sito
Non conceduto a lui che ’ngiu sp si piegi
Ma per natura quanto po e salito
La soa spera e sotto il cielo de la luna
E qui non a in si mistura alcuna

[rubric: Fuocho]

¶ La vista humana veder non poterebbe
Perche viepiu che l’aria egli e purissimo
Ma chi vi s’apressa si sentirebbe
El caldo suo chocente e ardentissimo
Ogni cossa legier vi passarebbe
Sença violentia perche -e- sotilissimo
Poi sotto lui e la spera de l’aria
La qual -e- molto in suo termine varia

[initial: Opening initial /D/, 3 lines, in blue with red pen flourishing.]

BOOK TWO

Of you, Highest Lord, we spoke,
and of your heavens and their influence—
as much [of them] as you have shown us by your grace.
{Preamble} Now let your kind benevolence
show us the elements and their nature,
the seasons of the year and what they sow,
their qualities, and what they reap,
and the complexions of living bodies.^{*In medieval medical theory, a body's "complexion" was the combination of hot, cold, moist, and dry qualities that determined a person's temperament or personality.}

{[Elements]}

You bind the elements in measure,
You established a limit for each,
and you clearly distinguish one from the other.
The fire is the first, in the highest position,
not attainable by he who is bent down
but by nature, it has ascended as high as possible
Its sphere is under the sphere of the moon
and here, there is no commingling of them.

{[Fire]}

Human sight would not be able to look upon it
because far more than air, it is extremely pure
but one who moves close to it would feel
its burning and fiery heat.
Everything would pass through easily
without effort because it [fire] is very thin.
Then under it, is the sphere of the air
which is, within its boundaries, quite variable.