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dry vapors where there is no moisture within it,
which rises up from the earth from which it is engendered by
the sun, which attracts it on high. And when it is too high it falls
and catches flame just like a burning candle,
And then it falls into the moist air and is extinguished
by the moisture of the air. And when it is heavy and the air is dry,
it comes -- still burning -- all the way to the earth. It often
happens to those who travel upon the sea or those who
go upon the earth that they have often found such things, for they would see them
shining and burning as they fall to the ground. And when
they come to where one of them fell in order to take it,
they do not find anything except a small piece of coal, or
something like that, like a dead leaf from a tree when it
had been made wet. Then they would understand that they
had not been thinking right in believing that these were stars.
For the stars cannot fall, since it is right for them to
move in an orderly way in their circle, continually both
day and night.
[rubric:] Of the pure air and how the seven planets are
contained and placed in it [/rubric]