As happens to whoever flys up high, the
more he rises above the earth the more air he has beneath to uphold him,
and consequently the less he is affected by gravitation; he may even
rise so high that he cannot, without the labour of cleaving the air,
return downwards, although one might imagine it were more easy to cleave
the air downwards towards the earth than to rise on high towards the
stars.
CES. So that with progress of this kind a greater and greater facility
is acquired for mounting on high?
MAR. So it is; therefore well said Tansillo:--
"The more I feel the air beneath my feet
So much the more towards the wind I bend
My swiftest pinions
And spurn the world and up towards Heaven I go."
As every part of bodies and of their elements, the nearer they come to
their natural place, the greater the impetus and force with which they
move, until at last, whether they will or not, they must prevail. That
which we see then in the parts of bodies and in the bodies themselves we
ought also to allow of intellectual things towards their proper
objects, as their proper places, countries, and ends. Whence you may
easily comprehend the entire significance of the figure, the legend, and
the verses.
CES. So much so that whatsoever you might add thereto would appear to me
superfluous.
IX.
CES. Let us see what is here represented by those two radiating arrows
upon a target around which is written: Vicit instans.
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