Page 205

103

It happens in such a way that when the moon, which
is below the sun, comes between us and the sun in
a direct line, what occurs is that it takes away the light
from us but it retains to itself the brightness of the sun on high
so that it seems to us that it [the sun] fails. The moon is not so pure
that the sun can shine through it, as through another star.
This is just like a candle that is far from your view -- when
you extend your hand in front of the candle you do not
see anything of it. The more you put your hand right in
front of the candle, the less you see the candle itself,
and truly you can hold it in such a way that in the end
you do not see it at all. In the same way, I tell you about
the eclipse, that between the moon and the sun there
is not a common path. Rather, the moon has a different path
which deviates a little from the sun's. Therefore we should
understand it as though a line extends from our view straight
towards the sun, and similarly when we look along this
line sometimes the moon goes either below or above this
one line, depending on whether it is above or below